Finding balance in our lives is what we all strive for. But we so often find ourselves ‘off balance’ when we focus on one part of our lives, to the detriment of others. We share some tips to help you bring your life balance back.
The ‘wheel of life’ can help you to take a ‘helicopter view” of the important aspects of your life so that you can consider and identify the areas that may be off balance.
The wheel of life can be divided into eight key life management areas:
Social – this is about your network of friends, relationships and finding time for solitude or hobbies. It can also include community involvement.
Values & beliefs – these are the ideals, principles, standards and morals that create our priorities in life. It’s a code for how you treat yourself and others. It includes your spiritual and religious commitments and your cultural heritage.
Work – this is about job satisfaction and career development. It involves relationships with management, colleagues, teams, suppliers and customers.
Finance – your financial position and plan – making ends meet, budget, income and investments, planning for the future, planning for retirement and financially underpinning a desired quality of life.
Health – this includes developing a preventative mind set; avoiding the lifestyle habits that lead to poor health; having regular health checks; good diet and nutrition; getting regular exercise and finding time for rest and relaxation.
Family – this is about relationships; being a parent, grandparent, sibling and child. It’s also about extended family and the tradition and obligations that this can bring.
Love – this includes your husband, wife, partner or significant other. Its about relationships, romance and intimacy.
Personal growth – this is about continuous improvement; having a lifelong learning mindset and understanding that learning is the currency of the future and the gate way to personal growth.
Your own personal wheel of life
Perfect and consistent balance across the wheel is not always possible as priorities can shift very quickly! Remember that balancing the segments is NOT about trying to fit more into your day; it’s about doing things that bring satisfaction and meaning, both professionally and personally.
The areas that you need to pay attention to in order to effectively manage the balance in your life should be easy to identify. It’s not about dividing the day into equal parts so that each segment gets equal attention. Its about taking up and prioritising the activities that are meaningful and fulfilling to you. This is what will truly create balance in your life.
Some tips to get you back on track
If you feel there is imbalance in your life, don’t try and ‘fix’ everything at once! It’s not about fitting more in, but about making time to enjoy the things that are more meaningful to you.
Actually writing down your neglected areas and a plan to re-balance them will help you greatly. So if you have three areas of equal importance on your wheel that need re-balancing, all you need to do is give priority to the activities that lead to enhancing the development of each of these areas.
Place these in a visible area that will keep you motivated to achieve your goals. Track your efforts and reward yourself as you achieve each milestone.
Remember that perfect balance is not always possible, but continuously working on those areas of most meaning to you will result in greater satisfaction and fulfilment.
Source: This is an edited extract from ‘Your Wheel of Life’, available from AFA Care and Benestar at https://benestar.com/. For more information about accessing AFA Care resources available at Benestar please visit https://www.afa.asn.au/afa-care
