If you followed my last post A FULFILLING LIFE IS ONE OF BALANCE, you have most likely come prepared with a journal. Did anyone try making a journal? If you are just joining “Writer’s Whole Life Perspective,” you will need to backtrack. This week we are going to look at your wheel assessments a little deeper.
Start by going back to your colored wheel. Consider the various categories. Can you break any of them down into more categories?
Example 1: Wheel of Life category “Immediate Family.” Can you break it down further? Let’s say, your level of satisfaction in this category is a six. There could be one aspect of the category that is the root of this assessment. Maybe it is difficulties you are having with your spouse, perhaps you have a child that is extremely challenging, or maybe you are being kept from your grandchild.
Example 2: Wheel of Health category “Physcial Health.” Can you break it down further? Perhaps you suffer from a chronic illness. Maybe you are overweight. Perhaps you suffer from fatigue or pain.
Example 3: Writing Wheel category “Writing Support from Others” Maybe you have zero support. Perhaps the support you have is not working. Maybe you need additional support.
Once you come up with further categories for each area, rate each new category on a scale from zero to ten to indicate the influence it might have had on your overall rating of the original wheel category. Zero indicates it had no influence at all, and ten means it was a key reason for your overall rating. The goal here is to see if you can get a clearer picture of the impact certain aspects of individual categories have on your level of satisfaction. This will help you find the true obstacle(s) to achieving a higher level of satisfaction in each area.
Now it is time to look even deeper. List each original wheel category in your journal. For each category listed, enter two or three bullet points giving the key reasons for your rating in this area. What are your obstacles to a higher level of satisfaction in this area? Try to be specific.
Example 1: Going back to the example of “Immediate Family” with a rating of six. What were the top reasons for the rating of six?
- Between work and kids, not enough alone time with my spouse. List consequences of this problem.
- Work and responsibilities wear me out, and I have no time, energy, or patience for my children.
- Jason is mouthy all the time, he won’t clean his room, he refuses to do his homework.
Example 2: Using the area of “Writing Support from Others”
- I have no one in my life that understands what it takes to be an author.
- My husband tries to support me, but he usually won’t read any of my work. The few times he does, he is negative and insulting.
- My critique group members don’t seem as serious as I am about our commitments.
I understand that this is a lot of work, so I will not offer the next exercise for several weeks. However, if you want to get ahead of the game, after you’ve done the above work, start brainstorming in your journal about what it might take to bring each wheel category up to a ten. Don’t get overwhelmed. In the long run, you will learn that this is about small steps and choice. You are just setting the foundation, not building the whole apartment complex. I promise.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Also, I would love it if you would comment about your experience with Writer’s Whole Life so far.
Next week, instead of a post that requires work on your part, I will be posting, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
I have no idea how to color my “immediate family” section, as I have no immediate family. My parents are both gone, I have no spouse, no kids, no brothers, no sisters. So just looking at that section is a little hard. Suggestions?
I will contact you privately, Beth. Should I use your blog contact, your FB email, the myaccess email?
the myaccess email would be fine. Thanks, Alayne.
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