Toolkit series · episode 04
Wheel of Life
Satisfaction ratings across life areas on a 0–10 scale, drawn as a radar, and compared across completions so the second sitting has a first sitting to stand on.
For: Independent and boutique coaches
Worked example: David Osei. First wheel in month 1 of the COO step-up; second wheel in month 4.
Fictional composite for illustration. No real client data.
Walkthrough
David rates career, health, relationships, finance and the rest. The first radar is a conversation. The second radar, four months later, is the conversation worth having. Completions stay on the engagement.
1 · Rate the areas
0–10 on each area, current satisfaction, not importance. Importance is a different question and a different sitting.
- People inflate career in month one of a promotion. Believe the number, then test it.
- Do not average the wheel. The shape is the finding.
2 · Read the shape
A spike next to a trough is a trade, not two separate problems. David’s first wheel: career 8, health 3, family 4.
- The promotion is already collecting a tax. Name it early.
- A ‘balanced’ wheel is rare and not the goal.
3 · Repeat it
Month 4: career still high, health up two, family unchanged. That is a programme, not a poster.
- Without a stored first wheel you are guessing at progress.
- Domains here can later seed Future Design. That wiring is on the product roadmap; the conversation does not have to wait.
Three insights
1
The second wheel is the point
A single radar is a nice slide. Two radars on the same person, months apart, is the reason to use software instead of a laminated worksheet.
2
A spike is a conversation
High career / low health is not a request to ‘work on wellbeing’. It is a request to look at the job design that produced the shape.
3
Do not chase roundness
A round wheel is an aesthetic. Some troughs are chosen. The coach’s job is to notice which troughs were not.
40-minute opener
- 0′+10m
Put both radars on the table
If there is only one, this sitting is intake. If there are two, start with what moved.
- 10′+15m
Name one trade
One spike and one trough that belong together. Stay there.
- 25′+10m
One experiment
A 30-day change small enough to show on the next wheel.
- 35′+5m
Book the next completion
Put a date on wave 3 before the conversation moves on.
Compare Wheel of Life waves in CustomCoach
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