The 8 Areas of the Wheel of Life (and How to Make Them Your Own)

Want a clear, honest picture of how balanced your life really is? That's exactly what the Wheel of Life is built for — and it all starts with understanding the areas it's made of.

The Wheel of Life is a concept for evaluating your quality of life across eight key areas: health, money, career, family, friends, personal growth, rest and spiritual development. This is the traditional model, though you'll also find variations with six, ten, twelve segments or more, depending on which parts of life you want to cover. Just don't overcomplicate it — the simpler the wheel, the clearer the result and the easier it is to draw conclusions.

The 8 Key Areas of Life

Health

Health comes first, because every other area — and your quality of life overall — depends on it. In the pursuit of career and success, many people neglect a healthy lifestyle, and that always catches up with them. Do you eat well? Do you get enough sleep? Do you go for walks often, and do you make time for sport?

Money

Like it or not, the world runs on money, and financial stability has never hurt anyone. Are you happy with your income? Do you have enough for your necessities and for the things that bring you joy? You might wonder why money and career sit in two separate sectors of the wheel — it's because your income can come from far more than a single paycheck or business profit.

Career

For most people, paid work remains the main source of income. Upgrading your professional skills means increasing your earnings, and steady progress brings stability, protection and security. Do you enjoy the work you do to make money? Do you care about your own fulfilment, your career, your business?

Family

This area covers your relationships with a partner, your children and your parents. Ask yourself whether you spend enough time together, how much you trust one another, and whether you can be truly open with the people closest to you.

Entourage and Friends

Here we look at your relationships with friends, colleagues and the people around you. How sociable are you? How do you see yourself within your social circles? Do you have plenty of like-minded people — and people you can genuinely rely on?

Personal Growth

This is about developing yourself and everything that makes you better: reading books, watching good films, learning foreign languages, building useful skills, dropping bad habits and cultivating good ones, working through your fears and strengthening your self-esteem.

Leisure

Your success depends not only on effort and diligence, but also on your ability to rest. Resting well matters just as much as working well. Travel, new experiences, entertainment and hobbies all give you strength, energy and joy.

Spiritual Development

It's up to each person to decide what this area means to them. For some it's a search for something greater than themselves — the meaning of life, a sense of purpose, truth, God — or the study of religion and philosophy. It's the area of the wheel that people most often neglect.

Make the Wheel Your Own: Other Areas to Consider

The eight areas above are a starting point, not a rulebook. As you get familiar with the tool, you may want to swap in or add areas that reflect your own priorities. Here are some popular alternatives:

• Appearance
• Sport
• Capital and investments
• Study
• Love
• Parenting
• Home
• Relatives
• Friendship
• Travelling
• Brightness of life
• Free time
• Hobbies
• Creativity
• Self-esteem
• Safety and stability
• Charity

Once you've settled on the areas that matter to you, the next step is to score them honestly and see where your life is thriving and where it needs attention — that's covered in how to create the Wheel of Life and assessing your life balance.

Ready to sketch your own? Grab a free printable Wheel of Life template or browse our printable templates and start mapping your balance today.