Sometimes we identify a feeling that things “just don’t feel right”. Maybe you have achieved something that you expected to be a monumental personal goal, yet you still somehow feel incomplete. Maybe you’ve had a few days to collect your thoughts and you feel like you’ve not achieved as much as you could have, and that you want to make a change or do something new.
At the same time you might find yourself clawing away trying to work out just exactly what it is that you need to improve… you might be financially secure, have a great family, and have the job of your dreams… but you’re still not happy. Or maybe you have the hobby everyone else envies, the perfect bachelor lifestyle, and a nice house… but still you’re not happy.
Or maybe you’re just unhappy at everyone and everything, and you don’t know where to start on this great voyage of self improvement.
Either way, the first thing you need to do is…
Work you where you are right now
Such a simple statement, but so often overlooked. Many of us feel discontent and frantically claw away to make a change, without actually knowing what it is that we are truly unhappy with. Quite often one negative aspect of our lives can hide behind our ability to collect other minor issues and create one super-problem… it’s just like a snowball gathering mass and velocity as it rolls from the top of a mountain. On their own, they’re merely snowflakes, but they soon amass into an out of control steamroller of pain!
So, what we need to do is take a metaphorical hairdryer to this snowball of doom and break it down into its parts. That’s where we do a little exercise called “The Circle of Life”, or sometimes known as “The Wheel of Life”.
The Wheel of Life / The Cirlce of Life
To help us work out where were strong and where we’re lacking, we can use an exercise called The Circle of Life, or The Wheel of Life.
See the diagram below and make a copy on a piece of paper. It doesn’t need to be neat. Draw the outer circle, split it into eight segments, and draw nine concentric circles inside the outer circle. Or, if you’re like 90% of the population and you associate better by copying a diagram, just copy the one I’ve drawn below!
The Wheel of Life
So now you have your Wheel of Life, we need to work out what’s in balance, what’s out of balance, and what you can start improving first.
Have a think about each aspect of your life on the Wheel of Life, and rate them out of 10. 1 being low and 10 being high. Starting from the centre and working outwards, colour in the number of segments representing the quality of each aspect of your life.
How round is your Wheel of Life?
Ideally you would have a fairly even spread of qualities, all being 7 and above. This would crete a nice smooth wheel. If you rolled it, it would carry on a smooth comfortable rotation, indicating a nice, balanced, pleasant life. In reality your wheel will probably have at least one bump or hiccup that would hamper its rotation… maybe even a total “flat spot” that would stop its rotation altogether.
This will give you a good indication of what needs changing first. If you have the power to decide right now, then you should work on the qualities that are most lacking in your life, and try to improve steadily and with permanence. If you do not have the power to decide, then you need to ask yourself the question “why do I not have the power, and what can I do to change this?”.
We can help you with your goal setting and building an action plan of what you really want to achieve. If you’re having difficulty rating the quality of your life or properly reflecting on your current life, we can help. So, if you need a helping hand, your first step to making a lasting change should be to get in touch!
