The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. Go on, you have everything to gain! PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
There was definitely something wrong with the car. As Elizabeth drove on, she realised that she had a puncture.
A
look at the left rear wheel confirmed her fears. As she stood by the
road pondering on her next move, a blue vehicle slowed down and came to a
stop just behind her car.
It was Saadia, her colleague and friend. “I see that you have car trouble,” Saadia said as the two studied the puncture.
Elizabeth
looked worried as she confessed: “I have no idea how to change the
wheel and the nearest petrol station must be about two miles down the
road. I don’t want to risk destroying the rim any further,”
Saadia
looked at her friend and said comfortingly: “Don’t worry, I am a
qualified mechanic! I will help you change the wheel if you promise to
let me explain the wheel of life balance to you later on.”
A
few minutes later, Saadia had changed the wheel without breaking a
sweat. Elizabeth asked incredulously: “When did you find the time to
learn all that?”
“About two years
ago, I was just like you,” Saadia began. “The organisation I was working
in was quite busy and we had little time to do anything else.
But all that changed when we engaged a total wellness coach who took us though the wheel of life balance.”
WHEEL OF LIFE BALANCE
She explained to her friend that the wheel of life balance was a way of ensuring that all facets of one’s life were catered for.
It
comprised a wheel which was divided into eight parts. Each of the parts
represented a different aspect of a person’s life — career, finances,
health, family and friends, personal growth, fun, hobbies and
recreation, spiritual life and community.
The
thinking behind the wheel of life balance is that in order to live a
full life, we must find balance in each of these areas. Neglecting one
aspect means we have a punctured wheel and do not have balance.
“Each
individual must carry out a self-assessment to find out how they are
doing in each of these facets and then come up with specific targets for
improvement.
I personally discovered
that I was not spending enough time on fun, hobbies and recreation and
therefore chose to do a mechanical course as a hobby. In the process, I
have made several new friends, and learnt a few things about cars!”
Most
managers tend to focus on work-related parameters when evaluating their
staff, forgetting that there are other aspects that make up a complete
life. While success in the workplace is important, it is also important
that all managers ensure that their employees are satisfied in all the
important areas of their lives.
Why don’t you carry out a wheel of life balance self-assessment right away?
Draw
a circle and divide it into the eight wedges. Next, examine your life
by finding out how much time you have invested in each of the eight
areas.
The simplest question to ask for each of the wedges is; how satisfied are you with this area of your life?
If
you are very satisfied, you will give yourself a ten out of ten. Once
you rate yourself, the next thing is to come up with strategies of
improving the score.
This becomes a
form of goal-setting. As you achieve your goals, you will have the
satisfaction of having done the things that matter to you. The wheel of
balance can be used at the start of the year as a goal-setting tool and
at the end of the year to reflect on your achievements. You can use it
to make next year’s resolutions!
The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. Go on, you have everything to gain!
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