Upsizing Your Life: The Wheel of Life Exercise

Upsizing Your Life: The Wheel of Life

For those who are unfamiliar with the exercise, the Wheel of Life has 8 categories:  career, health, family and friends, money and finances, fun and recreation, romance and loving yourself, personal growth, and physical environment.  If you’d rather substitute other categories, please do so–this wheel represents your life.

Each of these categories are assessed on a scale of 0 (unsatisfied) to 10 (highly satisfied).  When you are done rating how you feel about each area of your life, you then plot the numbers on the spokes of the wheel and then connect them together.  When you’re done, you will have a picture of how your life is working in each of the different areas.  

If you’re like most people, your wheel is lop-sided.  Some areas are 10′s or close to them; some could be 0′s or close to that.  If you do the exercise you’ll notice that some areas need some attention and there will be some areas that are going well for you.  

No matter how good things may seem now, there is always room for improvement, and looking to improve every day is what the spirit of personal kaizen is all about. It’s not about how far you have come or how far you have yet to go, it is only about this moment and being open to seeing the lessons around you, and possessing the capacity and willingness to learn and improve.

There are many small things you can do to increase your mindfulness and skills over time. Here are 15 tips in no particular order.

(1) Keep an analog scrapbook. From napkins to paper cups to business cards and brochures, flyers, pictures and posters — whatever you find remarkable (good or bad) and fits inside a folder, a box, or a scrapbook. From time to time, review the contents of your analog examples and reflect on what works (and what doesn’t) and why. This activity is even better in a group where people occasionally come together and share their scrapbook contents with others in a kind of “show and tell”.

(2) Keep a digital scrapbook in the form of an online photo blog — either private or open to anyone to view — where you log all the examples of things you find of interest. Usually you can take a snap and then upload it to your blog right from your phone.

(3) Get out of your comfort zone. Participate in something creative that others may think is out of character for you. If you’re always comfortable, you probably are not growing. Dare to be daring (at least sometimes).

(4) Keep stimulating the "right side" of your brain by learning a musical instrument, or rediscovering the instrument you used to play. Playing music is one of those creative “whole mind” activities that will enrich your life (and work). You are never too old to learn to play an instrument.

(5) Learn to draw by taking a class using the methods of Betty Edwards (or buy her books and videos). Get Dan Roam’s The Back of the Napkin and learn how to draw and talk at the same time at the whiteboard.

(6) Take an art class at the local community college or university. Don’t worry that it may not have “obvious applications for work.” The art — whatever it is — will teach you lessons about seeing and communicating through form. All you need to do is practice and enjoy the journey. You’ll find, perhaps unexpectedly, that there were indeed lessons in there that you later applied to your own work or personal life.

(7) Go for long walks alone (with ability to record your observations). As you walk, if an idea snaps into your head or you notice something that stimulates your imagination, use the voice recorder in your phone (or other device) to record the idea. It may seem odd, but I often even go jogging with my iPhone just in case I need to take a snap of something remarkable or an idea comes to mind that I need to record instantly. Besides relieving stress and keeping you fit, exercise seems to stimulate ideas. Record those ideas when possible in a way easiest for you.

(8) Get completely unplugged and off the grid — no iPhones or BlackBerrys, etc. — and go for a walk, a hike, a bike ride, or whatever it is that allows you slow your busy mind. And what if that brilliant idea hits you and you can’t record it in any way or take a picture of a remarkable example? Don’t worry about it. Getting off the grid and freeing up your mind (and pockets) is necessary too.

(9) Make it a point to watch TED videos on line. Subscribe to the TED RSS feed or follow TED on Twitter.  Many presentations have been translated.

(10) Go for walks in nature with a keen eye for the balance and the colors, lines, shapes, etc. that most people never pay attention to. What lessons can you get by stopping to look both at the whole and then zooming in to look at the particular? There is much to be learned by careful observation of nature. Artists already do this, but we can too.

(11) Teach others what you learn. One of the best ways to deepen and solidify your new knowledge is to teach it to others. Give a presentation, run a seminar, teach a class, or volunteer to run a small internal workshop to teach others in your organization what you are learning. Real learning occurs when you share it.

(12) Share your new knowledge and passion in a short presentation at your local Pecha Kucha Night, Ignite night, TEDx conference, Users Group meeting, or even your local Toastmasters meeting, and other associations. The more you share and the more you get out to these events, the more you learn.

There are many more things you can do to continuously improve and grow over the long-term. What are some of the things that work for you?

Tip: Imagine you have a magic wand. If you could use this magic wand to change anything in your life, where would you begin? What could you do right now to gain control of the situations in your life that frustrate you? 

What WILL you do immediately?