How to score the Wheel of Life and read the gap
The Wheel of Life shows you where your next goal belongs. You score eight parts of your life, mark where you'd like each one to be, and start on the biggest gap.
The wheel is a circle cut into eight wedges: Career, Finances, Health, Family, Romance, Growth, Fun and Environment. You score each wedge out of ten, and the wheel draws its shape as you go.
How to score the Wheel of Life
- Use the eight areas as they areThey're broad on purpose, so most of your life fits in one of them.
- Give each one a score out of tenGo with the first number that comes to you. If you're stuck between two, pick the lower one.
- Go round again and mark what good looks likeSet a target for each area in the life you have now. Ten is rarely the right target. The gaps in the next step come from this second pass.
- Find the biggest gapTake each score away from the target beside it. The workspace does the sum for you and names the area with the biggest gap in the line under the wheel.
A low score is fine if you chose it
A four in Fun only matters if you want Fun to be an eight. Plenty of people score four in Fun and four in Romance in a year they've given to a new business or a new baby. Their targets for those two are low as well, so the gap is small.
Say Career is a seven with a target of nine, and Fun is a four with a target of four. Career has the bigger gap, so Career gets the next twelve weeks.
What each wedge is asking
- Career. The work you do, how much you like it and where it is going.
- Finances. What comes in, what goes out, and what you have put by.
- Health. Sleep, food, movement, and how your body copes with a normal week.
- Family. Parents, brothers and sisters, children, and anyone you'd call family.
- Romance. Your partner, or dating if you're single.
- Growth. What you're learning, reading or getting better at.
- Fun. Time on things you enjoy for their own sake.
- Environment. Your home, your desk, your commute and the room you're sitting in now.
Score it again in twelve weeks
A second wheel twelve weeks later shows whether the area you worked on moved. It also shows anything that slipped while you were busy with it.
The workspace keeps your scores in this browser, and in your account if you make one.
From the gap to a goal
The gap gives you an area, and the goal comes next. In the workspace the wheel is step one of five. Values and a vision board come after it, then twelve week goals and a plan for whatever gets in the way.
Questions
Is the Wheel of Life free on Astera?
Yes! There's nothing to sign up to. We only charge for printing a book.
Why eight areas?
Coaches use different sets, and there's no official one. We went with eight because it reads well as a circle and covers most of a life.
Can I print my wheel?
Yes. When you put the workspace into an Astera book, your wheel goes in with the score you gave each area and room to write under them.