As a coach for personal development I am very interested in all sorts of theories. In the recent issue of the Saturday Financial Times I found an article about the perfect small home and this guy in Iowa who lives in a very small trailer.

However, looking through the website I found a life map which got my attention. It plans out what your focus in life is an why and how….. – really it is a “wheel of life”.

The “normal wheel of life”, used by most coaches looks like that:

It examines certain areas of your life and analyses where you are happy with, e.g. in this example from Dave where the family part of the wheel is almost 100% in terms of achievement and happiness, whilst the money part still needs development. Anyhow, the wheel of life focuses on: career, money, health, partner, family, friends, learning and environment. You can add or remove categories, e.g. if you study “studying” or if you do a lot of sports it could be “basketball” for instance additional to health.

Now, the other wheel I found at the Resources for life, has very similar categories: Lifeways, Health, Career, Finance, Relationship, Activism and Effectiveness. I like that split.

The reason for that is the way it starts with Lifeways and the determination about your belief system. Like me being a Buddhist. It then takes you on to health and career as well as finance like the “normal coaching wheel”. However, it then splits more into relationship in general, taking into consideration the relationship in general, e.g. family and partnership.

I find the category of “activism” very interesting: Something you would die for, something you are passionate about. Exactly, how many people just live and don’t know what they really like? What they want? What makes them tick? Wow, how can we go ahead and become passionate about something. What gets you up in the morning and gets you going? What is your biggest achievement today. How can you change things today to make a better tomorrow? That is great stuff!

Effective Living is the last category. Reminds me of Buddhism in terms of letting go of material value. How can you achieve more with less?

I am sure you come across more different life maps and wheels. And, giving our lives, each wheel will be different and every map and category means something different for everyone. However, it is good to take some time, sit down and draw your own map. And, think about the passion and your life style. Anything you can improve? It is not all about finance and career. Or, can you integrate your activism and effective living into the career and finance category? Get what they call a holistic living system.

Whilst the above example of a holistic life is about Gregory’s life and approach to a “small, simple, sustainable” life I would like to take the idea a bit further.

The holistic life approach and your areas of life that map out your life should really aim at your personal life. It should identify areas that are important to you, and most likely family/relationship, career and finance would be. However, holistic mans that you need to integrate all parts in the “full circle”. It is your life where each part is dependable from the other. Means you need to have a holistic view of your life.

Ask us today for some life coaching and goal setting.