One of the tools that we use in our coaching programmes and one of the tools that we train others to use in our NLP Coaching, Life Coaching Training Courses is the Wheel of Life or Happiness Index.
This is a great tool to use in the first coaching meeting to enable the client to gain perspective on the overall balance of their life.
The Happiness Index is divided into eight areas:
- Personal Development
- Career
- Fun & Recreation
- Relationships
- Physical Environment
- Health
- Money
- Romance
The client considers each of the eight areas of their life and scores their satisfaction level, or happiness level in each area. They give each area a score out of ten.
For each area they place a dot or a circle on the line or spoke in the wheel that corresponds to their score. Then they join up the lines. Here is an example:
So, in the above example the wheel shows:
- 5/10 satisfaction with the client’s personal development
- 7/10 satisfaction with their career
- 6/10 satisfaction with their fun and recreation
- 4/10 satisfaction with their relationships
- 9/10 satisfaction with their physical environment
- 8/10 satisfaction with their health
- 5/10 satisfaction with their money
- 6/10 satisfaction with their romance
Imagine this wheel on a car taking the client on their journey through life. It is not going to be a comfortable ride!
Do this exercise yourself now and see what you get.
What I find by doing this exercise is that certain areas of life stand out as needing attention, and they are not always the areas that were of immediate concern to the client. These can often be a good starting point for the areas in which the client chooses to set goals.
It is important to review this happiness index or wheel on a regular basis, since as you focus your attention and achieve goals in one area, it may have a negative impact on other areas of your life.
For example improving happiness or satisfaction in the area of Money may well adversely affect your areas of Romance and Relationships as you spend more time at work and less with the people that you care about.
Life and happiness is all about creating a balance on your journey and that is the purpose of this exercise.
The key is to find the leverage points on your wheel. What are the areas of your life that you can focus your attention on and will positively impact on other areas of your life?
For example, at one stage in my life when I was a financial adviser I focussed attention on my professional development by taking advanced qualifications. Studying for these new qualifications gave me a sense of personal development and as I was improving my knowledge, so it improved my confidence in my work. As a result I gained the trust of my clients and they referred me to lots of new clients and so I grew my business.
So, in this case I set a goal of achieving my professional qualifications with a view to improving my satisfaction level in the area of personal development, this was my leverage point. The knock-on effect was that it also improved my happiness score in the areas of Career and Money.
Do not worry if you find that as you progress through the coaching cycle certain scores reduce rather than improve. It is quite usual that as we develop and grow as individuals we raise our expectations of our own performance and of our environment.
For example, someone who initially had a score of 6/10 for Fun and Recreation may well decide after a bit of coaching that in fact they have the right to have more fun in life and their score may drop down to 4/10 in that area.
I conduct this exercise on a monthly basis with my clients as I find that it provides perfect feedback on our coaching.
An overall improvement in average score is the aim, and a smooth wheel will provide a happy balance in life for you.
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