Balance Your Life in 2012: Roll Out the Wheel of Life

The balancing act is tough in today's fast-paced, more-is-better society. When our lives become unbalanced, it creates mental, emotional and physical stress that deteroriates our health and limits our potential as human beings.

We need to consciously step back and evaluate each area of our life to get a clear picture of ourselves. The Wheel of Life Exercise is a great tool to give you insight on your strengths and weaknesses. Each dimension of your life is mapped out on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.

Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in areas of life that are important to make you whole. Examples are: Health/Fitness, Family/Home, Career/Work, Social/Friends, Spiritual, Love/Partner, Community, Financial. Draw out the wheel with 10 spokes and mark where each of these areas falls. Then note where you would like these to be.

Connect the dots and identify your strengths and weaknesses. This is a powerful tool because it gives you a vivid representation of the way your life currently is compared to how you would like it to be.  It also identifies which areas of your life need more energy and where you need to cut back.

The challenge then becomes putting this information into an Action Plan. Create goals to balance your life more effectively. Small steps lead to big results. Keep sight of your desire to balance your life. This will not be an easy path.  No path that leads upwards ever is.