A Well-Rounded Wheel Keeps Life Balanced

Check email. Check news. Check Facebook. Check Twitter. Check. Check. Check… Finally sit. Then we realize we just need more time. Today, we are so hurried, always in motion, always ready to jump. 

Our lives are full of to-do’s. When faced with a task or goal, we tend to focus much of our energy, intelligence, and emotion on them. As we focus heavily in one or a few areas of life, we begin to ignore others causing a great imbalance resulting in frustration and confusion.

To avoid this imbalance and its costly effects, we can effectively prioritize our goals and tasks with a wheel. Our “Wheel of Life” (Meyer Resource Group) should be, as any wheel, round. This wheel is subdivided, like a pie, into typically 8 pieces. In each piece of the pie you fill in with pieces of your life. Here are some common areas for the wheel (adapted from startofhappiness.com):

Business, Career & Studies: Is your career where you want it to be by now? Are you heading in the right direction?

Finance & Wealth: Are you earning enough income to satisfy your current needs? Are you financially set up for future growth in wealth?

Health & Fitness: How physically healthy are you? Are you satisfied with your level of fitness? Are you satisfied with your diet?

Social & Friends: Are your friends supportive of you? Are you engaging friends and socializing to your satisfaction levels?

Family: Is your family supportive of you? Are you supportive of your family?

Love: Do you feel loved? How often are you expressing love to others?

Recreation & Fun: Are you enjoying your life and making it fun? Are you satisfied with the level of leisure and activities you do?

Contribution: How would others rate your contribution to society? Are you as involved, invested, and generous as you would like to be?

Personal Growth: How focused are you on personal growth? Are you satisfied with your direction? Are you trying new experiences and seeking to learn?

Self-Image: Do you think of your abilities highly? Do you respect and love yourself? Do you appreciate yourself?

Spiritual: How connected are you to God or to the world? Are you satisfied with your relationship with Christ?

Many have used these specifics, but you may substitute them with your own. Now, dig deep and assess where you are in these areas. Think hard and give them a number from 1-10, 1 being the middle of the circle, and10 being the edge. How round, or how flat is your wheel?

As we focus so much in one area, for example “social” and notice that our “physical” is draining low, we adjust. We may be spending time, money, and emotion on our social life while our physical life has been suffering. The same can be said in any area of the wheel. If our “spiritual” area of life has been low, it may mean that our focus has been elsewhere. Our goal is to recognize where we stand today so that we can refocus and make the necessary adjustments.

Be silent; take time for what is important to you and focus. Regroup, and reenergize your time to what needs it most, but don’t ignore your wheel. The wheel doesn’t need to be all 10’s, it just needs to be round.
Once you self-reflect, set goals, write them on your wheel. Be specific, be real, set goals for spiritual, physical/health, family, and social aspects of life. Revisit the wheel when you feel imbalanced or hurried.
Remember, it just needs to be well-rounded.

Edwin Morales is an ex-military and law enforcement officer and the owner of Crossfit CVI in Pompano Beach. For more information, visit crossfitcvi.com, call 954-972-4284 or email at [email protected].

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