The Most Important 5 Minutes of Your Life — The Wheel of Life
If someone had told me four years ago that five minutes will change my whole outlook on life, I would not have believed them.
But that is as long as it takes, to get a change in perspective. Some of the simplest things can help us understand something fundamental about our life we have entirely missed before.
For me, one of those moments was when I tried out the Wheel of Life.
The Wheel of Life is a tool that helps you assess your life satisfaction. It is a straightforward exercise you can use to see which areas of your life are balanced and which you want to work on. You will be able to pinpoint what is going well, which areas are lacking and which parts of your life you might find frustrating at the moment.
If you have not worked with a coach or stumbled upon it in a self-help book, you probably have never heard of the Wheel of Life. The exercise is super easy to do but very powerful. It changed my perspective on life in five minutes, and it can do the same for you.
Here is how it works:
There are a couple of categories in the wheel to assess. There are many versions of the Wheel of Life available online, and you can edit its categories to fit what is essential in your life. Currently, my Wheel of Life includes the following categories:
Go through all categories and ask yourself: “How satisfied am I with [insert category] in my life on a scale from 1 to 10?” One means that you are incredibly unsatisfied and ten that you are extremely satisfied.
Take a short moment to ponder each category and then answer what intuitively feels right to you. Remember to be honest and truthful to yourself. There are no correct answers, it is your life, and you know best.
Once you have done that for all categories, you can see straight away what is holding you back. It will be the categories that have the lowest score.
This point is where you want to take action. You can focus on one at a time, try to improve it and soon you will feel a lot more balanced and mindful.
For example: If you are very unsatisfied with your health, start thinking what would help you feel better and act on that idea. You can begin to exercise regularly, adjust your diet or get checked out by a doctor.
The Wheel of Like works best if you turn it into a habit. Review your situation every month or every three months after you improved your chosen life area. Change takes time, and this is an excellent way to keep yourself accountable.
Take this 5 minutes for yourself from time to time. It will move your life towards more meaning. What do you have to lose? It is just 5 minutes.
The Wheel of Life gives you a clear analysis of your problems
The power of the Wheel of Life is not in giving you answers. But it gives you a precise analysis of where the problem lies. Embrace that knowledge and discover how to bring harmony back in your life.
If you would like more details on how to interpret the categories for your Wheel of Life, feel free to leave a question below in the comment section. I am also happy to answer any other questions and to hear your feedback.
Next Step
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