PRODUCTIVITY TOOL - Wheel of Life
Why do we crave for a "balanced life" even though we know that it's not easy to achieve ?
The answer is straightforward - A "balanced life" is a sure recipe for order, happiness and satisfaction in life which is so essential for a fulfilling life !
But this "balance" comes with the caveat that it may not take much for things to go "out of order" in our life inspite of our best efforts to hang on to the balanced state. The moment imbalance starts to creep in, is when things get out of control for us and we start to struggle to get things back in order and get our life back on track !
The resulting stress, mental chaos and confusion is exactly the reason that we need to address this "imbalance" in our life and do it with a well-rounded approach. Developing a well-rounded approach is made simple by answering the most fundamental question - What is my understanding of "balance" in life ? If the understanding is all about meeting the ad-hoc or urgent needs of life then the approach is bound to collapse. On the other hand, if the understanding is broader in nature and incorporates the key impact areas of life, then the approach is bound to succeed.
The three key guiding pointers for building an effective approach towards a "balanced life" are
- Identifying the key impact areas of our life
- Scoring/ Gauging the current level of "balance" in each of the identified areas
- Shift from seeking a balanced life towards seeking a "well-balanced" life
The task of accomplishing the above is made simpler by a tool that is easy-to-use and yet so effective in building clarity. The tool is known as WHEEL OF LIFE and is often the very first tool used by coaches with their clients to help them become clear about their focus areas. The simplicity of the tool cannot undermine its' effectiveness. Let's look more closely at the tool
About the tool - Wheel of Life
The Wheel of Life is an extremely simple yet robust framework for bringing in life through self-assessment and reflection. It is a visual representation of the status quo/ balance/ imbalance that exists in our life and provides a "helicopter view" of things in our life. This holistic view which the tool provides enables us to gauge where we stand in various areas of our life and where we need to pay attention to bring balance/ better balance in our life.
The credit for creating the modern version of Wheel of Life goes to Paul J. Meyer, the founder of Success Motivation Institute though the tool has its roots in Buddhism. The modern version of the tool was created by Paul J. Meyer in the 1960s and has been popular ever since then.
The tool consist of a circle divided into various pie shaped sections/ segment, where each section/ segment denotes an identified key areas of our life. Each section has a scoring scale of 1-10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) with 1 placed closer to the centre of the wheel and 10 placed towards
Among the plenty of advantages that the tool offers, the key benefits include self-awareness/ self-reflection, clarity and prioritisation. The tool is a great saviour for times when we feel lost and stuck.
Using the Tool
The following steps would enable us to derive the best from the tool
- Identify the key categories/ areas of your life, the areas that are meaningful and impact our life. Identifying too many areas may not be much helpful so it makes sense to restrict the categories to 8 in number.
- Label each section/ segment with an area from the list of 8 identified areas
- Score yourself for each area, on a scale of 1-10, based on the current level of satisfaction or balance
- Based on the score identified, draw a line across each segment
- The resultant drawing will give an indication about how bumpy the ride is at present and where we need to pay attention to make the ride smooth.
Few important things to remember
- In the scoring scale of 1-10, 1 denotes the most dissatisfied/ imbalanced and 10 denotes most satisfied/ balanced. As we move along the scale from 1-10, the rest of the scores (2-9) denote the gradual improvement in the level of satisfaction/ level.
- The range of scores denote the status quo
- the scores of 1-4 denote an high level of dissatisfaction and ask for immediate measures to address the issues and seize the opportunities. This score could be an indication of our neglect towards a particular area, which we did not seem necessary to attend to till now.
- the scores of 5-7 denote a reasonable level of satisfaction in the particular areas but also indicate the need to step up the game and make the best use of opportunities to move to the next level.
- the scores of 8-10 denote a high level of satisfaction and also an indication of not to become complacent in the particular areas but to retain the momentum.
- There's always a need to ensure that we operate at a minimum level to always ensure the basic life balance and my experience has shown that a score of 6 is always essential for every identified area.
The beauty of the tool lies in not being dependent on a specific template. Though there are plenty of online downloads available, such as http://cmaleadershipconsultants.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CMA-Coaching-Wheel.pdf but we can draw it ourselves too and get started.
So, grease your Wheel of Life and start putting your life in balance !
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