The Wheel of Life: A Visual Reality Check for Creatives
Sometimes life feels like trying to ride a bike with one square wheel and one circle. You’ve got momentum in one area but you’re dragging dead weight in another.
No wonder everything feels wobbly!
This is the premise for the Wheel of Life. It’s one of the simplest tools out there, but it’s also one of the most brutally honest. Instead of asking you to “think positive,” it forces you to look at the big picture. Where are you thriving? Where are you coasting (or flat-lining)?
What Is the Wheel of Life?
Imagine a circle divided into slices, like a pizza. Each slice represents an area of your life. There are variations on this wheel, but it generally includes things like:
Health
Friends & Family
Romance
Personal Growth
Fun & Recreation
Environment
Career
Finances
You score each slice from 1 (dissatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied). Connect the dots, and you get a jagged little “wheel” that shows where you’re balanced and where you’re not. Most people’s wheel looks more like a lumpy spider web than a perfect circle.
And that’s the point. The Wheel of Life makes your invisible imbalances visible.
Why It Works
The Wheel of Life quantifies your qualitative perception about how you’re doing. It forces you to be honest with yourself. By forcing you to put a number on each area, it takes your vague sense of “something feels off” and makes it more concrete.
Here’s what happens:
Thriving - You see the domains where you’re thriving. Maybe your friendships are a 9.
Ignoring - You see the ones you’ve been ignoring. Maybe your health is a 3.
Next Steps - You start naturally asking, “What small step would move this area up by one point?”
That question alone can spark action better than any motivational speech.
How to Use It
Draw the Wheel. Or print one out (you can find free templates online like this one from Talk-Works). Write down 8–10 domains that matter most to you. Feel free to change the titles if you don’t like the wording, or it feels like a section is missing.
Score Each Area. Be honest. No one else is looking.
Connect the Lines. This creates your “wheel.” Look at the shape. Is it balanced? Lopsided? Missing half a rim?
Pick One Focus. Don’t try to fix your whole life at once. Choose one slice that feels most urgent or energizing.
Set a SMART Goal. (Yep, those again.) Make a concrete plan to nudge that slice up one point.
Why Creatives Need This
Creative people often hyper-focus on their projects and ignore everything else. You’re pouring energy into making art, but maybe your finances are on fire, or your health is dragging, or your relationships are starving. That imbalance eventually bleeds back into your work.
The Wheel of Life gives you a snapshot of the bigger picture so you can rebalance before you get completely burnt out.
Your Move
Grab a piece of paper. Draw a circle. Make the slices. Score them. Then ask yourself:
What’s one thing I can do this week to raise one of these scores by a single point?
That’s it. No overthinking. No grand reinventions. Just one notch forward.
Ready for More?
If you want someone to walk you through tools like this, figure out the best next step, and help you rebalance while still finishing your creative projects, let’s talk. Book a free sample coaching session here.
