Balance is an illusion

If you put your leg in the air and stand on one foot are you balanced are you balancing? The answer is the latter. The perfect, constant work/life balance probably doesn’t exist. Life is a constant act of finding balance in each and every moment. In order to find balance, we need to know where we are centered.

In my view, this act of centering means defining what it would be like to be perfect or at least happy in each significant area of your life. Once you have defined what a 10/10 looks like in each of these areas, consider where you are now in contrast. Then think about what steps you can take in each area to feel more fulfilled.

Very often what we perceive as discomfort in a certain area of life is just a lack of alignment with our values or a lack of strategy in finding that balance.

Prioritizing is key, but it’s equally important to understand you can maximise your fulfillment in multiple areas simply by being intentional. By distinguishing what we want from each area of our life, we’ll be better placed to balance and adjust as we go along.

A framework for fulfillment

So here’s the framework I wanted to share today - it’s called the life wheel. I was introduced to it late last year by a coach of mine, and employing it since the start of the year has helped me operate with great clarity, and be proactively more conscious in my approach to each significant area of my life.

Most of the templates I found online seemed poorly designed or lacking in-depth, so I built my own framework in Notion which allows for further questions and regular review. I’ve made the template available here, but I’ll talk through it for those that want to recreate the process manually.

The Life Wheel is a powerful construct because it visually contrasts your analysis of your status quo versus your ideal state. It is called the Life Wheel / Wheel of Life because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.

The model I have developed for going through this process is: Appraise, Inspect, Design, Audit (AIDA). These are the steps you should go through in considering each major area of your life.