The Wheel of Life, made daily

What the Wheel of Life is

Coaches have used it for decades. You draw a circle and split it into slices like health, career, money, relationships, fun, and growth. You rate each slice from one to ten, connect the dots, and see how bumpy your wheel is. The exercise is often credited to Paul J. Meyer, who built a personal development company in the 1960s.

It works. In ten minutes you see something true about your life that you'd been too busy to notice.

Why it fades

It's a snapshot. You do it at a workshop or on the first of the year, it tells you something real, and then it goes in a drawer. Your life keeps moving and the wheel doesn't.

There's a second problem. Giving yourself a three out of ten on love feels bad, and people quietly avoid things that make them feel bad. So the wheel stays in the drawer.

The daily version

NynLyf keeps the idea and changes three things.

1. Nine tiles instead of eight slices. A three by three grid fits a phone screen, and you can read all of it at a glance.
2. No scores. Instead of rating yourself, you just use it. Tasks go in their tiles. The tile you've ignored the longest gets a sleeping cat on it. That's the whole feedback.
3. It's where your day already lives. Today's three priorities sit on top and your calendar sits underneath, so you open it for practical reasons and see the whole wheel every time.

Same idea as the wheel. Three rows: you, your people, your ground.

Wheel slices, mapped to the nine

For coaches

If you use the wheel with clients, NynLyf is the version they'll open between sessions. The same nine areas every day, the priorities you set together on top, and a cat who shows both of you what's been ignored. We're building a simple way for coaches to give passes to clients. Write to nynlyf@ybboring.com if you want in early.

Questions

Can I still rate each area from one to ten?

Not in NynLyf. We tried it, and scores made people avoid the app. The sleeping cat does the same job without the grade.

Is there a free version of the wheel?

The classic exercise is free. All you need is a pen. Our one-page life planner is free too, and it uses the same nine areas.