The Life Wheel – Professional and Personal Areas of Focus
The Life Wheel is a tool used in coaching to help you evaluate each area of your life and visualize what areas may require your attention. As we recover from an upending year and refocus on the year ahead, it is a perfect time to do this easy assessment that will take you less than five minutes.
There are numerous variations of this tool, and I have updated the wheel to include the areas that I cover with clients. On a scale of 0 (low) – 10 (high), in each of the dimensions, plot an ‘x’ as to how you feel now (not how you would like to feel) in each area. When you have finished, draw a line between each of the plotted marks, and you will have a visual representation of your life currently.
When you have focused on a particular area for an extended period, it is customary to find yourself feeling off-balance and not paying attention to all areas of importance in your life.
Does your wheel look balanced?
The next step is to consider what areas require your focus and attention, and what compromises or choices you need to make to allow time for improvement.
It is important to note that not every dimension will ever be a perfect ’10’, and leading a balanced life does not mean that it has to be. During periods of your life, more focus and attention will be needed in a specific area, the objective of this visual is to enable you to see where you rate yourself today and help you identify areas that you would like to see improvement in throughout the year.
Define What is Important & Eliminate What is Not
Does this sound familiar:
- ‘I am stretched too thin.’
- ‘There are not enough hours in the day.’
- ‘I spend my entire day in meetings.’
- ‘My stress levels are high, and I am so frustrated at work.’
- ‘The quality of my work is suffering. I don’t have sufficient time to focus over all the interruptions.’
Focus on determining your highest priorities and getting the most important tasks done daily. Schedule uninterruptible time to work on what is important.
Take back control of your schedule:
- Eliminate useless meetings
- Stop participating in purposeless tasks
- Institute ’email rules’ for what you need, and want to be copied on
- Say ‘no’ with confidence and discipline to tasks that are not related to your goals
- Ensure you implement ‘thinking’ and ‘planning’ time in your schedule
Do less, do it better,
and attain more significant results.
If you are interested in learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.
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