We’ve been talking in the past several posts about goal setting. In case you missed the series, we dive deep into the “how’s” of goal setting:

• How To Set And Achieve Kick-Butt Goals For Your Business & Your Life
• Why You Should Stop Setting Goals (Yes, you read that right!)
• Three Tools to Help You Crush Your Goals

I thought I’d take a step back to look at the bigger picture of setting goals–the why behind it all.

There is a concept that gained a lot of traction years ago when “life coaching” became really popular. It’s called the Wheel of Life.

And no, it doesn’t involve Vanna White. That’s a different Wheel. Nor is it a tire filled with pieces of a board game or a crunchy cereal.

The Wheel of Life is a way of examining core areas in your life and keeping them in balance. Typically represented by a circle with spokes extending out from the center, it’s also depicted as a pie with multiple pieces. The circle is you, your entire being. The spokes on the wheel (or the slices of the pie) are the things that comprise your life, and they all work together.

When you examine each of the key areas your life this way, you can quickly see which areas are being neglected and which are getting too much of your energy. Extremes in either direction are a sign that something isn’t right. The goal is balance, with all of the pieces of “you” getting appropriate attention.

The idea actually dates back thousands of years but it’s application is timeless. One of the most notable people to give life to the Wheel was motivational speaker Zig Ziglar.

Ziglar focused on seven areas:

1. Personal and Social – Who are you spending time with, and what are you doing?
2. Work and Career – Are you where you would like to be?
3. Family – Are you nurturing relationships with the people closest to you?
4. Spiritual – Do you make time to grow spiritually?
5. Financial – Are you living within a budget? Saving? Investing?
6. Mind/Intellect – Are you learning new things to keep your mind sharp?
7. Physical/Health – Are you taking care of yourself in order to live as long as possible?

Take a few minutes and evaluate how you are doing in each of these areas. Give yourself a rating of 1-10 (with 1 being “totally ignoring it” and 10 being “crushing it”). Be honest.

Once you know where you are weak, you’ll know where to focus your attention. And you can start setting goals to help you bring that area closer to a 10. Consequently, choosing to ignore any one area for too long will be like trying to ride a bike with a bad tire.

(You can dive deeper into Ziglar’s Wheel in his classic book, Born to Win.)

Next time, we’ll unpack these seven areas a little more. I’ll share some ways you can apply them to your small business.

In Your Corner

At Patrick Accounting, we like to come alongside small business owners and help you knock out your goals. One of the ways we do that is by taking time-consuming tasks off your plate– tasks that draw away from growing your business, keep you up at night and leave you stuck at the office, instead of with your family.