The Goal Wheel: Does it work for you?

Many well known self-improvement gurus, such as Zig Ziglar and Anthony Robbins, use something called The Wheel of Life for mapping out goals.

This is how it goes: You draw a circle, then cut the circle into multiple (roughly 8 or 10) 'slices of pie.' Then you label each of the 'spokes' (edges of the slices) with one area of your life (goal). You draw a dot somewhere on each spoke to represent where you are (on achieving the goal) between the middle of the circle (no progress at all) and the outside of the circle which is presumably 'perfection.'

Once you've marked your 'points' for each category, you are supposed to draw a line between each -- ending up with something that often resembles a flat tire (unless you are perfectly balanced in all areas of your life). This is supposed to tell you where your life is out of balance and where you need to equal things out. [See: Zig Ziglar]

As much as I admire Tony Robbins and these other great achievers, I have to admit there is something that just doesn't work for me on this Wheel of Life.

First of all, there are too many categories. Life is busy enough without having to think about 8 categories of goals.

Secondly, although I agree it's important to consider balance in one's life, I don't feel it's necessary to have equal focus on every goal. I don't care if the wheel is perfectly round (and why does it have to be a wheel anyway?). If my health degraded, I probably wouldn't be working as much on buying boats and cars. Health is more important than things. For me.

As well, when I have progress in one area, I might choose to focus a bit more on another area ... for example, at a certain level of wealth, I can more easily focus on the things and experiences I want to have (which cost a lot of money!). Not that I should put everything off until that magic moment when the bank account rolls to some special number, because we're not guaranteed to be here tomorrow.

Even within a specific category, I wouldn't, for example, make the relationship with my spouse or children equal to the relationship with my colleagues, even though both are important.

Thirdly, if some parts of my life are 'out of balance,' how do I bring them back in balance while giving equal attention to all parts of my life? If I make equal progress on everything, I will make progress overall, but the parts will still be out of balance. If I focus on the 'lower' goals to bring them up to the 'higher' goals ... by Ziglar's definition, my life is out of balance.

As well, this strategy supposes that equal effort equals equal results. That's a tongue-twister, but some goals naturally require more effort for different people, depending on your strengths and weaknesses, and whatever life throws at you while you're working on all of this.

I also don't know there is an ultimate goal in each category. For example, what is a 'perfect' relationship? 'Perfect' career? Even if you create something extraordinary, you'll probably still have room for improvement, another level. It's unlikely you'll suddenly drop that goal as having been 'achieved' and move on to something entirely different. More likely, you will set new targets within each of your categories.

One idea that does resonate with me is the concept of a Zone of Genius as described by Gay Hendricks in his book The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level.

"I think of the Zone of Genius as a continuous spiral. You go higher and higher every day as you expand your capacity for more love, abundance, and success. It's an upward journey with no upper limit," says Hendricks.

In other words, if $100,000 income/year represents financial success to you and you manage to reach that level of income, you may (at that point) decide to move up another level to $500,000 or a million. Or you might want to have passive income so you can focus on your own projects rather than working for someone else. It's an upward spiral rather than one finite goal.

With that said, I'm going to start with four categories:

• Physical (physical and mental health, fitness, energy, youthfulness ...), 
• Financial (wealth, career, lifestyle, things ...), 
• Relationships (significant other, family, friends, colleagues ...), and 
• Spiritual (spiritual and emotional, and exploring things like the power of the mind, meditation, visualization, prayer, law of attraction ...). 

Over the next few weeks and months, I will define my goals in each category further as I develop my overall plan.

~

For those interested in exploring The Goal Wheel further check these links:

Tony Robbins: http://www.time-management-techniques.com/tony-robbins-rpm.html
Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_93.htm
The Goals Guy - Gary Ryan Blair: http://www.goalsguy.com/about/gs_model.html