How to use the wheel of life for goal-setting

My absolute favourite place to start goal setting is the wheel of life. By starting with the wheel of life, you get a good overview of all the activities and commitments competing for your attention. It gives you an opportunity to see where you might be out of balance, and where things might need immediate attention. This makes it much easier to realise your priorities and set appropriate goals.

Click below to get your free copy of the wheel of life.

A note before you start: You’ll see the wheel is divided into 12 sections but you can add or remove sections as you wish. Before you start decide if there are any sections you want to add or remove.

Here’s how to use the wheel of life for goal-setting:

1. Prepare your environment

Find somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed and create an environment that will allow you to feel grounded. Dimming the lights, lighting a candle, burning some incense work for me. Before you start allow yourself to take a deep breath and quiet your mind.

2. Rate your satisfaction level

With the wheel of life in front of you, quickly, without thinking, rate your satisfaction for each area (1 being least content and 10 being most content). It’s important that you don’t spend too long on this. It should be a gut reaction. There will be time to analyse later!

3. Connect your wheel

Once you’ve allocated numbers to each segment, draw a line to connect the dots.

4. Raise your self-awareness

Take a few minutes to look at your new wheel. What do you notice about it? What are you surprised about? What area is calling for your attention?

5. Laser your focus

Individually focus on each segment. Consider the number you have allocated, and what number you would like it to be within the next 6 months. Then consider what would need to happen for you to achieve that. Consider what you want more of, or what you might need to give up to have that happen.

6. Set your priorities

Once you have looked at each area, look at the wheel as a whole again. You only have limited time and resources, so you may need to prioritize or choose where to place your focus.

7. Set your goals

Choose one or two areas you would like to focus on and set a maximum of 3 goals in total. These are your focus areas. This is not to say the other areas are less important, it just means they are a lower priority in this moment. Usually, when we make a change in one area of our life it directly impacts other areas, so you may see changes in your lower priority areas even if your focus is not on them.

8. Revisit your wheel

I recommend returning to the wheel of life every 6 months, or more if you are feeling stuck or lost. If you engage with it intentionally, you should be able to uncover the area that is making you feel stuck.

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Why you need a break now more than ever

It’s Monday evening and I’m sat at my desk in my slippers and a woolly jumper, listening to Bon Iver. It’s dark and cold outside. There’s no denying that winter is here.

In any ordinary year, I’d be making preparations for Christmas. I’d be getting excited to have some time off, spend time with family and let my hair down. But as you well know, this is not a normal year and this will not be a normal winter.

From the conversations I’m having, it seems that everyone is feeling a bit tired, burnt out, unwell and ready for a break. I can hear it in people’s voices, like energy is being drained with every word spoken.

And yet so many of those conversations end with people telling me they don’t want to take a break because there is no good reason to take a break during lockdown. There’s nothing to do, no one to see and nowhere to go. They might as well push on and get as much work done as possible.

If that is you then what I’m about to say is for you!

Now more than ever, you need to listen to your body. You have been asked to adjust multiple times this year to a constantly changing situation. You are continuously having to make decisions that could impact your health. You are likely grieving things that would have been. You are likely feeling isolated and alone. All this, against an emotional political backdrop. 

Let me be very clear – just because this is the second lock down, doesn’t make it easier. You may think you’re used to it, but you’re not designed to get used to it. You are human and you are a social animal. If anything, right now you’re probably feeling the impact of Covid-19 on your emotions more than before because there is the stark realisation that you are reaching the end of the year and the situation persists. 

So I am writing this post to tell you that if you are finding doing things (or anything) difficult right now, you are not alone. If you are shedding more tears than usual that’s OK. Your body is telling you, you need to slow down and take a break, and not feel bad about it!

Breaks can be long or short. Do what is right for you. Here are a few ideas:

  • Finish work on time
  • Read a novel
  • Light a candle
  • Write down your intentions for the week
  • Get stuck into a new hobby
  • Book a day off
  • Stay in bed
  • Binge watch TV
  • Do a puzzle
  • Go for a long walk
  • Drink hot chocolate
  • Tell a good friend how you’re feeling
  • Cook
  • Paint
  • Meditate
  • Dance

These are just a few ideas, I’m sure you will have your own. What’s important is that you accept what you are feeling right now and listen to what you need. Pushing on relentlessly is only going to make you feel worse, dampen your creativity, and lower your emotional resilience. Now is not the time for that!

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