What is in Your Wheel of Life and Death?

The Wheel of Life

In reflecting on your life and your death, how do you identify what is important to you?

In Coaching, there is an exercise called "The Wheel of Life" which invites participants to select 8 areas of their life that are priority. These differ per person but the key ones to get started can often be:

1. Health

2. Finance

3. Home

4. Family

5. Friends

6. Work

7. Social Life

8. Self-Care

I invite you to create your own wheel and divide into 8 with the key areas of importance for you. In each piece of the wheel, number between 1 (in the centre symbolising the beginning or weaker grading) to 10 (outer ring symbolising most positive grading) and grade how satisfied you are with each aspect within your wheel. From there, identify which area you want to focus on and then make a plan to get to where you want to go.

The benefit of working with a coach ensures you can be both held accountable, but also to work through the challenges that have prevented you getting to 10 (or as near to) in each area.

Similar to The Wheel of Life, it is a good exercise to also create your Wheel of Death - to identify the key areas to focus on to ensure your plans are put in place.

Draw out a wheel and divide into 8 and grade yourself between 1 (not yet started) and 10 (done) so you can determine what needs focus to complete.

These key areas are:

1. Finances - acknowledging your accounts, your debs, your payment commitments, tax implications, financial planning.

2. Household Responsibilities - bills, how-to guides for each machine, equipment, or system you follow, contacts for service providers, and subscriptions you receive - to name but a few.

3. Health - how is your health right now? Book in your health checks to find out for sure.

4. a. Caring Preferences - this is where the Advanced Healthcare Directive is important to complete to give to your GP and also share with your loved ones who may be required to make decisions for your care on your behalf.

4. b. Enduring Power of Attorney - to protect your medical decisions, financial responsibilities, and business interests.

5. Belongings Audit - A good Deathclean works wonders to get this organised. For items of monetary value, make sure to get an updated valuation carried out as these fall within inheritance value and thereby may have tax implications for the beneficiaries.

6. People - who are those that matter to you and how do you want them involved in your decisions, or to be notified when something happens to you? Who do you want to be gifted your mementos?

7. Your Remains - do you want to be buried, cremated (fire or water), donate your organs/your body.

8. Will - once the above are in order then the Will formalises the above.

It is important to assess the elements of your life to determine your level of satisfaction. From this then pick one area to focus on and create a plan for the coming 100 days to improve both the grading, and the experience.  The same for your advanced plans - pick one from the second wheel that you can start working on, and before you know it you will be one step close to having your plans in place, and knowing the status of what matters in your life - YOU!

At Living Legacy, we can help you work through your wheel(s) and guide you to navigate the journey forward. Get in touch with us by booking a call at www.livinglegacy.ie