Wheel of Life Coaching Tool Template – Free Printable

Life can be overwhelming.  Between the everyday responsibilities of running a home and raising a family to the pressures of developing or advancing a career, achieving life balance can feel impossible. 

The good news? There is a great tool to help sort out the different areas of your life, assess your level of satisfaction and create meaningful goals.  It’s called The Wheel of Life.

Download your free Wheel of Life pdf file at the bottom of this post!

What is The Wheel of Life?

The concept of the Wheel of Life was created by Paul J. Meyer, founder of the Success Motivation Institute, back in the 1960’s.  Meyer, considered a thought leader of the coaching industry, was especially interested in the principles of personal development and professional excellence.

Today, the assessment tool known as The Wheel of Life is a popular personal development tool supported by organizations like the International Coaching Federation and used by life coaches across the world to help clients achieve more life balance.  It is a simple, yet thoughtful, way to reflect on your level of satisfaction with different aspects of your own life by evaluating each one individually. 

This powerful tool helps you visualize where your life currently is in comparison to where you would like it to be.

Wheel of Life Categories

One of the greatest features of the wheel of life exercise is its flexibility.  Most coaches will have you begin by using the following eight categories, but feel free to change them to better reflect relevant areas of life:

1. Health and Fitness
2. Family and Friends
3. Relationships (intimate)
4. Fun, Leisure, and Social Life
5. Emotional Wellness
6. Career
7. Finances
8. Personal Growth and Spirituality

Whether you are using this assessment independently or in a coaching session, it’s important to make sure you resonate with the categories.  Swap them out for aspects of your life that better suit you to maximize the value if needed. 

Think about the roles you play in your life (mother/father, husband/wife, supervisor, team member, community leader, friend, etc.) and the areas that are most important to you or your core values (financial freedom, education, family, physical health, positive outlook, etc.).

There is no wrong way to label your wheel as long as it’s a meaningful reflection of your own life!

How the Wheel of Life Works

If you are working with a coach, the wheel of life exercise is typically used early in the coaching engagement.  Not only is it an effective tool for both you and the coach to gauge your current well-being, but it can help identify where to begin.

You may be thinking, “But I know what the issue is, and I already know where to start.”  And you very well may be right!  But sometimes, the issue you identify is not necessarily what is holding you back from moving forward.

For example, maybe you have unsuccessfully tried multiple times on your own to eat better, incorporate more exercise into your routine and develop good sleep habits.  So, you engage with a coach for the goal of developing a more effective plan for living a healthier lifestyle. 

Going deeper and looking at your whole life, with a tool like the wheel of life, may surface other life challenges that are negatively impacting your ability to be successful.  If you are experiencing high levels of dissatisfaction and stress with your work environment or feeling consumed by credit card debt, those underlying issues may be holding you back from making better decisions as it relates to your health and fitness.

Addressing the “thing under the thing” is where the magic happens.  It allows you to focus on the right areas and set goals with a more effective action plan to achieve the best life balance.

How to Use the Wheel of Life

Now that you have chosen categories that best represent your life, it’s time to get to work! 

Reflect on each category individually.  Consider each one and rank your current life satisfaction on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).  If you are using the attached template or paper version of the wheel, shade in your rankings for each category as you assess them.

Once you have shaded them in, connect the ranked numbers in a circular direction just as you would try to draw a circle.  Step back and let your first impression of your “circle” soak in.

This visual representation will quickly allow you to see which areas of your life you are satisfied with and which ones you are not. 

If you are equally satisfied across all aspects of your life, then you should see a perfect circle and feel great life balance as your “wheel of life” is running smoothly.

If your lines are more jagged and not connecting as a perfect circle, then your wheel is off balance, giving you a bumpy ride through life.

Chances are, you don’t see a perfect or full circle.  The good news is that is completely normal.  The even better news is that you now have a visual tool showing which areas of your life are off balance and need more attention.

Not only are you ready to set more effective goals, but your action planning will also be more targeted and meaningful!

5 Tips for Using the Wheel of Life

1. The best thing you can do is to be honest with yourself when you are ranking your life areas.  The Wheel of Life is a useful tool but only if it reflects your true thoughts and feelings.  You must acknowledge where the areas of improvement are if you want to change them. Do not be afraid of low scores – embrace them if you want to change them!
2. Balance is unique to each person.  Chasing high scores, or an end goal of 10’s across the board, isn’t necessarily realistic.  For some, achieving 6’s in all areas of their lives is what feels practical yet fulfilling.
3. View your outcome as a starting point, not a failure or finished picture.  You are just beginning to write the story.  You are just beginning to write the story and carefully picking each key action.  Embrace a growth mindset and push past any negative thoughts, self-doubt or fixed mindset mentality you may be holding onto.
4. Be SMART when you are goal setting and follow the SMART goal format – Specific, Measurable, Action, Relevant, Timely.  Aim to develop 2-4 short term goals and 1 or 2 long term goals.
5. Use the Wheel of Life exercise regularly as a check in with yourself.  The way you feel about different areas of your life changes as your life circumstances constantly evolve.  Repeating this exercise often is also a great way to track and measure your progress.

Living a More Balanced Life

Achieving life balance and a more fulfilling life is possible.  The first step is to give some careful thought to the different areas of your life that make up who you are and what is important to you.  Think about your core values in life and then begin mapping out your life wheel. 

Enter your email at the bottom of this post for a free download of your own printable wheel of life template.  Start with a blank wheel or use the categories provided and best of luck as you roll towards a more balanced life!