Wheel of Life
Assessment
What It Is · How to Do It · A Free Version
See your whole life at a glance.
Then see what the classic wheel leaves out.
What Is the Wheel of Life?
A wheel of life assessment is one of the simplest tools in coaching. You divide a circle into the main areas of your life, rate each one from 0 to 10, and join the dots. The shape you are left with shows, at a glance, where your life is full and where it is thin.
It works because it is honest. Most of us can tell a convincing story about our lives. It is much harder to argue with a shape that puts health at 3, work at 9, and joy barely on the chart. That is why the life balance wheel has been used by coaches for decades, and why it is still worth ten quiet minutes of your time.
"A life can look full from the outside
and still be running on one wheel."
Wheel of Life Categories
Versions differ, but most use about eight areas: career, money, health, family and friends, partner or romance, personal growth, fun and recreation, and physical environment. Some add spirituality, or contribution to others. A work life wheel narrows the same idea to your working life: role, team, growth, pay, workload and meaning.
What all of them have in common is where they look: outward, at the circumstances of your life. That is useful, and it is also where the classic wheel stops.
How to Do the Wheel of Life Exercise
- Choose your areas. Use the eight above, or the fifteen in the Life Balance Star below.
- Rate each one from 0 to 10. Score how it is now, not how it should be or how it looks to others.
- Plot and join the points. The centre is 0 and the edge is 10. The shape is your wheel.
- Notice the shape before judging it. Where is it flat? Which low score surprised you, and which didn't?
- Choose one area. Ask what would move it by a single point in the next month. Small moves are the ones that last.
A Wheel That Also Looks Inward
My free assessment, the Life Balance Star, keeps eight areas close to the classic wheel: career, money, health, personal development, spirituality, family and friends, partner, and physical environment.
Then it adds seven that the classic wheel leaves out, about your relationship with yourself: self image, authenticity, self worth, self respect, self acceptance, self esteem and self love. In twenty years of practice, these are often where the real imbalance lives.
You rate all fifteen from 0 to 10, and your answers are drawn as a star, so you can see at once where you are strong and where there is room to grow.
What to Do With Your Results
A low score is information, not a verdict. Most people have two or three areas that pull the whole shape inward. Seeing them clearly is the first step.
Compare the outer and the inner. High outer scores with low inner ones often describe a life that works on paper and feels hollow in practice. The reverse is rarer, and just as telling.
Know when to ask for help. If the same area stays low year after year, or everything has flattened at once, that is worth exploring with someone. Executive coaching works with leaders on exactly this, and Return to 37 is built for people who have been running on empty for too long.
The first call is free. Write to me and I will reply personally within 48 hours.
Life Balance Star
Assessment
Questions About the Wheel of Life Assessment
What is the wheel of life?
The wheel of life is a coaching tool that shows how satisfied you are across the main areas of your life. You rate each area from 0 to 10 and join the points, and the shape shows where your life is balanced and where it is not.
What are the wheel of life categories?
Most versions use about eight: career, money, health, family and friends, partner or romance, personal growth, fun and recreation, and physical environment. The Life Balance Star uses fifteen, adding seven areas about your relationship with yourself.
How do you do a wheel of life exercise?
Choose your areas, rate each one honestly from 0 to 10 for how it is now, then plot the scores and join them. Look at the shape, and choose one area to improve by a single point before trying to change everything.
How is the Life Balance Star different from a wheel of life?
It keeps outer areas such as career, money and health, and adds seven inner ones: self image, authenticity, self worth, self respect, self acceptance, self esteem and self love. Your answers are drawn as a star rather than a wheel.
Is the assessment free?
Yes. The Life Balance Star is free to take online.
See Your
Life Balance Star
Fifteen areas, rated from 0 to 10, drawn as a star. Free, and yours to keep.
Return to Home