When the boss or mother decides what time we wake up, how many hours a day we work, and when we go to the toilet, there will never be balance. We simply fill the day with other people's goals. We live by other people's values and try to satisfy not our own desires, but other people's expectations. This is survival.
Balance in life is possible if you manage your present and future, manage your time. When you determine what to pay attention to, then it’s easy for you to bring your life into balance.
Life balance is an interesting, active life according to its own rules , and not comfortable survival. To live an exciting life, you need to develop and try new things. Every day, be passionate about at least one or two activities that bring you joy. For me, a reliable source of joy is meaningful work.
You need to make a decision - gradually regain control of your destiny. Learn to ride independently without external help on the wheel of the spheres of your life.
The darkness of people does not manage their time, so the path to balance is closed to them. When they decide to take responsibility for their present and future, for their past decisions, then the road to a happy life will open for them.
How to make a Life Balance Wheel (exercise technique)
At first glance, making your own Balance Wheel is very simple:
Step 1: Identify important areas of life. Step 2: Draw a form or download and print the template included in this article. Step 3: Evaluate each area and mark the result in the desired sector. Step 4: Analyze the Wheel of Balance.
But there are 4 common mistakes that can negate all the benefits of the exercise:
- You try to fit your life into the areas that someone else has listed for you, and you don’t think about what each area of life specifically means to you.
- You take exactly the number of areas of life that the template suggests (usually 8 or 12) instead of doing as much as you actually need.
- You don't think about the time frame in which you think. The wheel of balance within one day and within a lifetime are very different things.
- You don’t analyze the results, don’t draw conclusions, don’t set goals - as a result, the exercise turns from a useful tool into not very meaningful entertainment.
Now let's take a closer look.
Explanation of the term
This tool is often used in various trainings dedicated to finding luck and meaning. The drawn circle is divided into segments representing areas of human interest (this is convenient to do when you have a wish map). The segments may include: family, work, entertainment, creativity, love, etc. Each axis consists of 10 marks indicating points. The best score is 10 points.
By assessing the performance of each segment, the circle gradually fills in, showing deficiencies
Colored in different shades, the wheel clearly indicates where you need to increase your attention and work on yourself. There is no single wheel of life, so it must be compiled individually
The priorities taken as a basis are completely different from the target audience.
Therefore, when psychologists draw a circle and draw up a balance, they necessarily take into account the type of occupation. Different models imply different tasks. And what suits one person is categorically contraindicated for another. It should also be noted that a certain period of time allows life changes, and the wheel of the marked balance is disrupted. New desires, goals and tasks appear. And the estimate that satisfies the situation can also be easily increased or decreased.
Which 12 areas of life to choose for the Wheel of Balance
Let's be honest!
We are all different. And it is likely that some of the points listed below will be completely unimportant for you. In this case, simply do not use it when drawing up your Life Balance Wheel.
But it also happens the other way around. If there is something so important in life that it deserves a separate sector, don’t be shy!
This is your life. Only you can decide what needs to be included in the Wheel of Balance and whether there will be 5, 8, 10 or 12 spheres. But to have plenty to choose from, check out this list.
12 spheres of the wheel of life balance
1. What's around me In what conditions do you live and work? Are you satisfied with your desktop? Room? House? Entrance? City? A country?
2. Family and environment Who surrounds you? Who do you communicate with regularly? This is your family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues. Do these people support you and help you develop, or, on the contrary, do they drag you down? If you chose your environment consciously, would you choose these people?
3. Relationships and love Warmth and joy, the feeling of “we are together”... There can be a lot of important things in a woman’s life. But when there is a strong and reliable relationship, when she is sure that she loves and is loved, this is a huge resource. And it seems that when everything is great in this area, a woman can literally flutter through life and implement truly big and interesting projects.
4. Children Not every person will highlight this area of life. Someone will combine relationships with children, their upbringing and development, with the sphere of Family and Environment. Someone will say that Children are about Relationships and Love.
But try to prove to a mother with many children or a woman on maternity leave that this is not a separate area of life. “How special!” - she will exclaim and look at you as at a very strange person who does not understand anything in life.
5. Health What is the state of your body? Do you have enough strength and energy? And if you look ahead, to the future? What habits keep you healthy? Which ones don't affect him very well?
6. Beauty Sometimes it is convenient to combine two areas into one area of life “Beauty and Health”. But, you see, Beauty is a broader concept. In addition to health, it is also about image, posture, gestures, demeanor, and grooming. That is why many women highlight it in a separate sector.
7. Rest and energy What a multifaceted concept - rest! It’s a pity that people often don’t take their vacation very responsibly. But rest is the basis for successful and productive work, happy relationships, and inner peace. How is your vacation? Check: Replenishment of physical strength: sleep, relaxation, shower or sauna, massage - is there? Replenishment of emotional strength: communication with friends, hugs with family, an hour with a book in a cozy chair - is this present in your life? Replenishing intellectual strength: walking, sports, dancing, watching a light movie - don’t you forget about this?
8. Money This is one of the key resources. But at the same time, money is a relative concept. Because how much money you need depends very much on what you want in life. It’s one thing to raise and send a child into life, another thing to send a spaceship to Mars. Is the money you have enough for life, for the implementation of your plans and projects?
9. Career, status, success In this area, everything is not so clear. It is clear that a woman who strived to build a career and received a high position is successful. Everything is clear here and there are no questions. Are you fulfilling yourself as a specialist?
What if a woman’s goal was to create a strong family, raise children, and support her husband? In my opinion, if the result is wonderful children, the husband is happy with everything, and the woman herself is a wonderful housewife, wife and mother, then she can also safely give herself a top ten in this area. What do you think? Maybe you are helping someone do a big and important thing and are fulfilling themselves as a life partner? Or maybe your calling is Mom, and first of all your success is the development and career of your children?
10. Hobbies, interests, brightness of life Someone can go somewhere far, far from home every weekend. And there you can wander around all day, looking at local sights, learning and absorbing another life, another culture, other customs.
And someone walks around the nearest Fabric store with the same delight. He admires the colors and colors, passes the finest silk between his fingers, picks up threads, buttons, and braid.
What are you ready to do, immersing yourself in the process? So it seems like time and fatigue are something that has nothing to do with you?
11. Developing myself, investing for the future How much does your current personality allow you to achieve your goals? Are you learning new things, creating the right habits, or setting interesting goals?
12. Spirituality They say that if a person understands the “why”, then he will endure any “how”. Is there a meaning in your life, a search for something greater than the individual in itself?
Once you have decided on the areas of life that are important to you, you can begin to make your Wheel of Balance.
Eliminate discomfort
Those sectors that scored the least are an area of special attention, the main source of your life problems and internal discomfort. First of all, we work with them. Outline the first 3 steps that you can take in 72 hours to move the flywheel of life in the right direction. Take these 3 steps and appreciate the changes.
Make a change plan
You have everything you need to start creating a personalized change plan, identify priorities and think about ways to solve them. We hope you have decided on the first steps that will launch the entire complex mechanism of irreversible positive changes.
You have completed a very important part of the work - you have drawn up your “road map of life”. Perhaps they saw their life for the first time and were able to analyze it. We found the personal keys to breaking out of the vicious circle and understood what needs to be done to change each of the spheres of the circle of life and life as a whole.
Balance and be happy.
How to download the Balance Wheel template or make it yourself
Download a suitable template for filling out the balance wheel using these links (will open in a separate window):
life balance wheel template 12 spheres - https://yadi.sk/i/zl4F10knXjoo1Q life balance wheel template 8 spheres - https://yadi.sk/ i/SsBXe32ron-fMw wheel of life balance download excel template – https://yadi.sk/i/lzl6Mqw-4gTXWQ
Or you can draw the balance wheel yourself.
For this:
- Draw a circle.
- Divide it into the required number of sectors.
- Divide each sector into 10 parts or draw scales on the borders of the sectors.
- Label each sector.
Is it possible to objectively evaluate your life?
Rate each area of your life on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is “absolutely terrible” and 10 is “perfect.”
When assessing, you can focus on your own feelings and ask yourself questions:
- Am I satisfied with what I have in this area of life?
- Do you feel like something is missing?
- How am I feeling now?
- Am I satisfied with everything?
But feelings and emotions are unreliable things.
Today I had a fight with my husband - my score in the “Family” area went down. And two days later he realized his mistake, came home with a gorgeous bouquet and apologized. There are already 10 in the “Family” sector. So?
Therefore, in addition to sensations, it is worth focusing on a more reasonable approach.
Try to base your assessment on your 3-5 year goals.
Imagine that everything worked out in the best way in life. Everything worked out to the maximum, but in reality, without the use of a magic wand and the help of aliens. How would you like to live? Where, with whom, how would your typical day go? What have you achieved over the years?
Now compare this image with what we have now.
What areas of your life are consistent with the life you want to achieve? Which ones still lack resources and results?
Once you have analyzed and assessed each area of your life, place these marks on your Wheel of Balance and fill in the corresponding sectors with different colors.
And now you can move on to the most important stage - analyzing the results.
Analysis of exercise results
Distortions in balance
The first thing you will pay attention to is whether there is a clear imbalance in life. How did your Wheel turn out – smooth or not so smooth?
Perhaps some sectors of the circle will be filled in almost completely: these are your strengths, here you can take resources, and you can rely on them in life.
Some other sectors may be almost at zero. Clearly, the sagging sectors are likely to require your attention right now.
Strengths
Identify 2-3 “strong” sectors, and 2-3 that require investment of effort and time
It happens that the wheel turns out to be even, but small - 3-4 in all directions. And this is where it’s worth thinking about. Sometimes the fact is that you are very demanding of yourself, and your dreams, plans, and tasks for the future are too ambitious. In this case, to get to the top ten in any sector you need to work seriously and for a long time. This is fine. This happens if a person wants a lot, but he is still at the very beginning of his journey.
But it happens that, frankly speaking, you have neglected your life. The truth is that letting life take its course can sometimes lead to less than pleasant results. Why this happened is a good question, but it is better to deal with it separately. Now it’s more important to figure out how to change the situation.
A large and even Balance Wheel: is this always good?
It may also be that the Wheel turned out beautiful and neat, even - all sectors are 9-10. This speaks of two things at once:
1. You keep a very good balance between all areas of life, know how to distribute your forces in the best possible way and pay attention to all important tasks on time. 2. But at the same time, the question arises: could it be that you set small and weak goals and objectives in your life? Isn't it time to aim for something big and interesting? Something that would add brightness, joy, happiness and meaning to your life?
Coaching concept
Coaching is an English term that refers to a specific type of training. In this process, the person—the client—is guided and accompanied by a coach. He is a specialist who helps others in any problematic situations where it is necessary to start moving towards the goal. In terms of the content of the work, this is very close to training events, but such a profession does not exist separately. A coach can deal with both the personal issues of a specific person and the professional activities of an entire company or organization. Coaching can be defined as the art of self-development and achieving results.
What to do next?
You can analyze endlessly, but life will not get better from analysis alone. So don't make the common mistake of stopping at this step. Analyzing the result is only half the exercise.
And then it’s time to figure out how to find that same balance and make your life easier, more enjoyable and more interesting.
First - relationships
Consider whether there are areas that are interconnected and influence each other. Sometimes changes in one area will lead to changes in another. And it will be great if you find such magic keys that open up new opportunities in all directions at once.
For example, sometimes moving to another city (a change in the “What’s Around” sphere) can significantly affect other areas of life - Career, Family, Environment.
Second - looking to the future
The time has come to outline what to strive for in the near future. Of course, I would like the results of the assessment on the Wheel of Balance in all areas of life to immediately reach the maximum, 10.
But let's be realistic. Sometimes you have to give up something.
It happens that you want a child for your Family, but in this case your Career will most likely sag. Or, for example, a strong breakthrough in your Career can cost your Health or Family. Do you really need it, or maybe it’s better to tone it down and set more realistic goals?
Think about it: what will your Wheel be like in six months? And in a year? Which areas need to be improved, and which areas can you settle for less? What is most important to you?
Directly on the resulting drawing, mark with a dotted line how you would like your Balance Wheel to look.
We set specific goals
Select 3-4 areas and outline goals and objectives in them that will lead to the desired changes. What exactly needs to be done?
A correctly formulated goal should contain:
- Positive wording. Write not what you want to leave or get rid of, but what you want to get as a result.
- A result that is clear to you , which will clearly show that the goal has been achieved. For example, “improve your health” is not a very clear formulation, but “lose 6 kg” or “get a consultation with an ophthalmologist” is much better.
- Deadline for achieving the goal. It is better to indicate a specific date here. Not “in six months”, but “before August 17”
Also, be sure to check your goals and objectives for sustainability. In simple terms: imagine that the goals have been achieved, and think whether this will really be right and good for you and the people close to you.
There can be no perfect circle
By answering tough questions and evaluating yourself, you risk losing objectivity. This happens at the stage of familiarization with technology. Take the circle of balance seriously, and already the first lessons will allow you to catch the right wave and establish a frank dialogue with yourself. It will take work, but isn't the goal of a balanced, meaningful and harmonious life worth it? The main condition for success and motivator is a sincere desire to change the quality of your life.
You will see that miracles happen to those who believe in them. Believe in them too. Maybe soon a new, much more interesting job or an exciting acquaintance will appear in your life. Whether it is a coincidence or a pattern is up to you to decide. Let's reveal a secret: when miracles become everyday life, you become convinced that they are just a consequence of “law-dimensions!”
The main thing: move towards your goals, maintaining the chosen direction and positive dynamics, and you can use tactics and strategies for success at your discretion.
