Living A Level 10 Life? Finding Direction With The Wheel of Life + FREE Worksheet

are you living a level 10 life

When I built my tiny house and started to simplify my life, it was because my life was out of control. My career had experienced a significant shakeup and I was in debt. I found myself between a rock and a hard place. I was struggling to figure out how to move my life forward. Clutter was weighing me down.

But through these struggles I learned a lot of ways to move my life forward when things got tough. I found tools to guide me when I couldn’t figure out what I needed to do next in life. I finally started to get my life under control and one of the main tools that helped me get on track was called the Level 10 Life Wheel.

I’ve found one of the strongest motivators for achievement is need. This fact seems obvious, but it’s often ignored. Many people set goals that don’t address their needs and then wonder why they aren’t motivated to achieve those goals. They ask why their life isn’t track or when they never seem to be getting ahead.

Level 10 Life WorksheetFor those of you unfamiliar with the Wheel of Life assessment tool aka Level 10 Life Wheel, it’s a simple way of writing down and assessing the critical areas of your life that you’d like to focus on. From there, you determine where you stand in terms of satisfaction in each area, set goals, and track your progress. For me, it’s been a really useful to orient my focus to the areas of my life I need to improve.

Ready to get started? Here’s how to use the Wheel of Life assessment to reach a Level 10 Life!

Why the Wheel of Life Assessment Tool Works

why level 10 life tool works

Before explaining the nuances of the Wheel of Life tool, I thought I’d give you a little background on why it works.

For many people, goal setting becomes scattered or unfocused. We set goals because we think we need to or because we think those items are what we want, but we haven’t assessed the areas of our life and where we need to focus our attention.

You may think, “I want more money,” or “I want to get a new job,” but you aren’t looking at the reasons why you want those things. Similarly, without using goal setting tools and SMART techniques, you might miss the path to accomplish your goals.

mountains notebookAs I said before, I came upon the Wheel of Life assessment tool because I was struggling to get a handle on several areas in my own life. After researching solutions, I realized cutting out all of the extra stuff in my life weighing me down was the key to finding success and fulfillment. I started my blog, and I started building my tiny house. It was a long road, but one that brought me a lot of satisfaction, and it came out of need.

When people set a goal like, “I want to get rich,” it doesn’t have the same motivating effect. The state of being “rich” isn’t really measurable—for some people, rich means being able to pay your bills with your paycheck. For others, it may mean buying anything you want at the grocery store and taking vacations a few times per year. Others may define rich as owning a private jet and a yacht.

But if you can pay your bills and you don’t have an urgent need for a yacht, are you going to feel motivated to do the work to turn yourself “rich”? If you do achieve the status of being “rich” does that actually solve the underlying drive and need we are truly seeking? If I had to guess the answer would be no. We must look at each area of our life and figure out what it is we want to at a deeper level.

For each of us, these areas might look a little different. But once we identify them, we can use the Wheel of Life as a goal-setting tool to track and move toward achieving a Level 10 Life in all areas.

How to Set Up a Wheel of Life

how to set up wheel of life

When I started working on simplifying my life, I found it helpful to divide up my areas of focus into distinct categories. For example, career, living space, relationships, time, and health. This allowed me to examine each area, identify where I stood, and pinpoint goals in the areas I wanted to work on.

I found the Wheel of Life tool very useful in determining how I should progress and what steps I should take next. The initial exercise is pretty quick, but it’s also super effective. The way I filled in each section of the circle let me quickly see where I was weak and what needed to improve. In some areas I realized I was doing pretty well, so I could just work to maintain there while I dedicated more time to areas where I was weaker. Of all the self-help tools I’ve found out there, this one was one of the best fits for me.

I’ve created a Wheel of Life template for you to use in your bullet journal. This will give you a good starting point, especially if this is your first time working on this type of life assessment tool. (Note: you definitely don’t need a bullet journal to work on the Wheel of Life assessment, but the tool lends itself well to this type of goal setting program.)

The wheel starts with a circle on the page. You’ll divide the circle into 6-10 wedges (like a pie). Divide each wedge into ten levels (hence, the “Level 10 Life” moniker. Each pie stands for an area of your life you deem essential.

Wheel of Life Categories

  • Physical Environment
  • Personal Growth
  • Education
  • Spirituality
  • Health
  • Romantic Relationships
  • Friendships
  • Family
  • Career
  • Finances

Those are several examples of the areas, but you can undoubtedly choose anything that resonates with you. You may want to include your mental health, creativity, outlook/attitude, or another area aligned with your life. What’s important to you?

Don’t spend too much time worrying about getting it right; follow your gut feeling. I found it was helpful to do the categories fairly quickly. If I couldn’t think of it in a few minutes, it must not be vital to me.

wheel of life journal Once you’ve chosen the components, you’re going to go through the wheel and rate each category based on where you are today on a scale of 1-10. How satisfied are you with each area? Where do you feel you’re at? Assign it a number, and then color in the pie piece up to the level. Once the wheel is colored in, you’ll get a very clear idea of where you are and how each piece stacks up against the other.

I like this goal setting tool because it helps you visualize your problem areas. If work is a three and everything else is at an eight, then you know your career needs improvement and focus. For example, when I did the Level 10 Life assessment, I realized I wasn’t spending enough time on creative activities. This gave me a clear area I could work on, so I laid out a plan to weave in creative activities into my life. I knew it was a weak point for me, and this tool really helped me understand where I stood.

The Wheel of Life tool helps bring you clarity. You’ll destress your life by eliminating activities that aren’t moving you toward what you want. You may find your career is fully filled in but at the expense of your friendships. Think about what you could do to shift your schedule and make time for your social connections.

What the Wheel of Life Tells Us

what the wheel of life tells us

The Wheel of Life gives us a snapshot of where we are in terms of satisfaction with our experience. The goal of a Level 10 Life is to live so we’re fully satisfied in every single area. Bloggers and bullet journalists have found the next helpful step is to assign a goal in each area to bring you closer to a level 10 satisfaction.

Ask Yourself

  • Why does this area need attention?
  • What steps could you take to bring your satisfaction up one level? Two? Use those steps to set your goal.
  • How will you break down the bigger goal into actionable steps?
  • What barriers could come up to achieving this and how could you address them ahead of time?
  • What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal?
Now, I think it’s also helpful to look at the areas you’ve rated highly—even those you’ve rated at 10. We often fail to grow in areas of our life where we get too comfortable. So, even if certain areas seem great, you may still want to set goals to maintain those areas and keep them up. Don’t become complacent.

Honesty is also fundamental to your assessment. Many people, including myself, have a strong desire to do everything “right.” We want to prove (even to ourselves) we’re satisfied with all aspects of our life. We worry about what we should answer as opposed to answering the truth.

wheel of life assessment toolRemind yourself this is a life assessment tool to help you know where you stand in your life and help you figure out what areas you want to work on. It doesn’t mean your life is terrible, or you’re failing in an area. If we’re being honest the fact that you’re stepping up and doing something to improve your life sets you apart, most people are lazy and content being miserable. This process simply means you may want to shift your focus to those areas needing additional attention. There are no right or wrong answers, and even motivational speakers and lifestyle gurus would probably admit they aren’t living a Level 10 Life in every single category.

If you’re overwhelmed by setting goals in all areas of your Wheel of Life, pick the areas you’re the weakest in and focusing your efforts there. Set two or three actions you will take in the next few weeks or months to improve in those areas.

What I like about the Wheel of Life tool is that it tells us a lot about our blind spots and the areas where we need to put in additional effort. It also helps us realize the areas of our life where we derive the most satisfaction. It gives a beautiful visual representation and map to follow to reach our version of a Level 10 Life.

I recommend using the Wheel of Life assessment tool on a monthly or quarterly basis. Monthly is an excellent place to start. If you feel you aren’t staying on track, you may want to start checking it weekly. If you feel like you need a little more time, stretch out your checks to once a quarter (especially once you’ve built up momentum).

Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to living a Level 10 Life in every area. Get started with the Wheel of Life assessment tool today.

Your Turn!

  • What categories are most important to you?
  • What goals will you set today based on your Wheel of Life assessment?
1 Comment
  1. the worksheet was never sent to me.

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