To begin, I have a practical exercise called the Wheel of Life to get you started on your journey. I love using the Wheel of Life exercise to define success on your own terms.

The meaning of “success” is no longer the default definition that past generations defined by status, wealth, zip codes, titles, prestige, VIP events, children, etc. We can get caught up in what society accepts and defines as successful. In this modern world, however, we have so many more possibilities and flexibility in our choices. This is where the Wheel of Life comes in!

Activity: The Wheel of Life Exercise

So, without any judgment or fear of others’ opinions of you, I want to go through an exercise. In this exercise, there is only one rule: be extremely honest with yourself.

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Print out the Wheel of Life worksheet. You’ll notice this Wheel of Life already has 8 different categories of your life to evaluate.

Step 2: Edit the categories. Feel free to change the headings to whatever feels most aligned with your terms. For instance, perhaps you don’t prioritize or care for Spirituality, but Parenting is a big part of your life. Basically, you’re switching out the headings to make sure your 8 most important aspects in your life are listed.

Step 3: Define success for each of the 8 categories. Now that you have your new headings on the Wheel of Life, go through each category and define success. If you were to reach the maximum score of 10, what would you have done, seen, felt, heard, etc.? Get as specific and as clear as you can. In other words, if the closest person to you was looking in on your life, how would they know you’ve reached the top of your ladder? Write your statement in the present tense.

Example:
Family: I have a successful relationship (10) in my family, as my husband and I communicate before going to sleep. We all eat dinner without TV on. Every morning I wake up hugging my husband and my kids. While the workday is busy, when we’re not working and all present we are spending quality time dialed into one another vs. distracted. On the weekends, we do one family outing and we say no to obligations we’re not excited by. We make aligned choices and we know our biggest values and always make decisions from them. We go on one international family vacation a year and everyone is excited about it.

Step 4: Evaluate. When you have your 10’s defined, go through and now evaluate where you are in relation to that goal. 0’s would be complete opposite, 5’s would be neutral – not great, not good, ‘just fine’. Try to avoid rating a 5 if possible.

Write the number along the line and feel free to color inside the lines so you can obtain a very clear visual of what areas you want to improve.

Note: the goal isn’t to get to a 10 in all categories, that would be very challenging. Achieving a 7 or 8 is pretty darn good, but it’s great to know what a 10 looks like so you can work on putting small shifts in place!

Insights and Next Steps from the Wheel of Life

If one area of your life improves, all of the others will be affected in a very positive way. Please note the lowest score doesn’t always have to be the highest priority. You may not be ready to tackle that quite yet, and that’s okay. It’s completely fine to do this exercise as often as you would like to. As our days and years evolve, we do, too!

Step 5: Analyze and Goal Setting. Next, assess what obstacles are in the way of improving the areas you would consciously and actively like to improve. List the obstacles and try to determine the next specific action steps you can take. Create a plan and set deadlines for reaching each goal/action. What you will want to assess next is what obstacles are in the way for the areas you would consciously and actively like to improve. List out the obstacles, and try to determine the next specific action steps you can take. Create a plan and set deadlines of when you would like to reach each goal/action by.

Remember, successes and 10’s will be defined differently for everyone. But if you can consciously reflect and think about what the ultimate success looks like for you, you’re already better off than most people out there!

Enjoying this content? Make sure you listen to the first episode of the Cultivate Your Joyful Life podcast to learn how you can cultivate your own joyful life. 

I’m here to encourage you to be the most bold and courageous version of YOU – so that you can create a life you love, on your own terms!

LISTEN TO THESE EPISODES NEXT

Ep. 002:  How to Have fun as an Adult (April 2024)
Ep. 003: How to Find Your Life Purpose w/ Rachel East (April 2024)

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Thank you SO much for being here, beautiful soul. I’m so grateful for you. See you in the next episode!

Xoxo

Emily