The Life Balance Exercise is designed to be take several times a year as you move through transitions of finding a better balance to all the important elements of your life. The genius of this tool is in its incremental approach to change. As opposed to huge wholesale changes that require massive amounts of energy, the Life Balance Exercise actually increases your capacity to handle change over time.
Life Balance Wheel Instructions
1. Think about 8 categories that best describe both what you do with your time and the value you place on it.(Examples: family, work, relaxation, recreation, personal growth, etc…) List one in each of the 8 slices on your balance wheel. These will not be the same as anyone else completing this assignment – they are unique to you.
2. At the bottom of the page, list each of the 8 categories and then assign a rating from 1-10 for the importance and effectiveness of each category. For example… if FAMILY is a category, decide which number best describes how important family is to you (1 being low and 10 being high), and write that number next to the “I”. Then decide which number best describes your effectiveness at making family that important in your life, and write the number next to the “E”.
3. Regardless of the number, ask yourself what it will take for you to move that number to the next higher one. In other words, if FAMILY was your category and you rated yourself a 6 for Effectiveness, what things could you do to move from a 6 to a 7 in the FAMILY category? Write this in the line marked, “Next Step”.
4. Look to see if there are patterns in the wheel. For example, do your less effective categories mostly revolve around home? Work? Do you have any categories outside work? How effective are you at work? Home?
5. Journal about this exercise.
6. Be prepared to take this balance wheel assessment again soon.