Where you live shapes your mood more than most of us admit: the light in the morning, the noise at night, the neighbours, the commute. The home wheel turns that vague feeling into a score and a short list of things you could actually change.
What is home in the wheel of life?
Home is one of the eight areas of the wheel of life: the house you live in, the way you live with the people you share it with and the care you give it. It is scored from 0 to 10 according to how satisfied you are today with your life at home and with the environment around it: your neighbourhood, your city and your country.
House coaching (or home coaching) is coaching applied to that environment: instead of receiving decorating or moving tips, you answer questions that help you decide what your home needs for you to feel good in it and what the first step you are going to take is.
Examples of home conditions: a cosy home, a terrace with plants, a quiet corner to read, a good relationship with the people you live with, or a tidy house where you find what you are looking for.
Video: how to do the Home Wheel step by step
Example of the Home Wheel of Life
If you are looking for ways to improve the place where you live, you are in the right place. Just as the wheel of life helps you assess how satisfied you are in the different areas of your life, you can make other wheels, as the book “Autocoaching para despertar” shows, to look in more detail at specific areas.
You will need a blank sheet of paper and a circle divided into sectors, as shown in the figure. Score each wedge (area) from zero to ten according to how satisfied you are today. There is no preset scale: it is a personal one. Try not to rack your brain looking for a reference system to work out how to gain one more point. If you hesitate, close your eyes and ask yourself: am I truly happy in this area of my life?
The Living Environment Wheel
This wheel lets you analyse your living environment, that is, the place where you live: your home. Here it helps to think from the biggest to the smallest, starting with the country where you live now; the city you are in; your neighbourhood and the services it offers; and finally your home, where you rest most days. At home you assess how satisfied you are with the way you live with other people and how committed you are to looking after your home.
| Area | Description of the area of the home wheel |
| Country | Am I satisfied with the country I live in? Am I comfortable with the current politics and with the social and cultural environment of the place where I am? |
| City/Town | Do I feel comfortable in the city where I live? Am I happy with the services it offers? |
| Neighbourhood | How satisfied am I with the neighbourhood I live in? Do I like my neighbours? Do I have the services I need nearby? Do I feel safe in my neighbourhood? |
| Home | Am I satisfied with the house I live in? Does it have the space and comfort I need? |
| Living together | How do I feel about the way I live with others at home? Do I get on well with the people I share my living space with? Am I comfortable with the number of people I live with? |
| Home care | How satisfied am I with the level of comfort at home? Am I happy with the cleanliness and care I put in? |
Do you have a score for every area? This measurement puts your overall view of life into numbers, and you will probably see things differently. Not sure about all the values you chose? Review your scores and change them until you feel comfortable with them. Remember that we never judge a wheel as good or bad: it is simply yours, personal and non-transferable. In the template below you can see how the arcs should look once the scores are in.
If house coaching interests you, see how your home wheel looks
Living environment: common questions
Is the home wheel only about my house?
No. It covers the people you live with, your neighbourhood, your city and your country. If the main issue is the relationship with the people you share a home with, the love wheel may be a good companion.
How do I decide whether to move?
Score each part of your home life, then write the pros and cons in the order of your values. The values exercises help with that, and a life map shows what you would be leaving and what you would gain.
Where can I read more about managing happiness at home?
Start with the best information about happiness and the free wheel of life guide.
Small changes count too: moving a chair, planting something, agreeing house rules. Choose one, try it, and see whether your home score moves.
For better questions, read weak vs powerful coaching questions. To put it into practice, read how to make changes in your life.
After this wheel of life you can also do more sub-wheels from the life map
Each sub-wheel breaks one area of your life into eight parts so you can score it in detail:
Work and career
Love and relationships
Money and finances
Family and friends
Health and habits
Leisure and free time
Personal growth
The wheel of lifeHome wheel template
You will surely see after doing this wheel of life that it is a good moment to start working on the lowest-scoring areas of your life at home. Some exercise to decorate the house? Some housing adviser to bring in new ideas? Perhaps a change of country or city? Rest assured that Happiness Play can help you: you can start with these home coaching questions.
When to do the Home Wheel
- When you come home and don’t feel comfortable, even if you can’t say why.
- Before a move or a renovation, to know what you really need.
- When living together gets complicated and you want to see which part depends on you.
- Every few months, to check whether the changes you planned have improved your life at home.
Coaching exercises for your living environment
Home coaching can help us settle better into a new environment. We often feel so afraid in certain situations that we prefer to hide them and say nothing, but some types of questions from a coaching perspective will help us in everyday situations. Remember that coaching does not try to teach or give advice: it starts from the idea that the client already has every resource needed to reach their goals.
After doing your life map and seeing that you want to work on the home area, how do you start improving your happiness in your home environment? Below are some examples of how home coaching sessions work, with powerful questions that make the client think about their own actions.
I want to move to another country: any suggestions?
If you are thinking of moving to another country, I suggest you take some time to reflect on these questions:
- Have you thought about the real reasons why you want to change country?
- Have you thought about the pros and cons of staying in your country and of leaving?
- Do you know people in that country who can give you a perspective on life there?
- Have you gathered information about the legal requirements to emigrate?
I want to move to another city: any suggestions?
It is surely a question that can come to you after listening to famous speakers. If you are thinking of moving to another city, I suggest you think about these questions:
- What are the real reasons why you want to move?
- What do you gain and what do you lose by doing it and by not doing it?
- Which expectations are you creating with the change?
- Have you talked to people who can give you a perspective on life in that city?
I want to move to another neighbourhood: any suggestions?
If you are thinking of moving to another neighbourhood, I suggest you think about:
- What are your real reasons for moving?
- What do you gain and what do you lose by doing it and by not doing it?
- Which expectations are you creating with the new neighbourhood?
I don’t like the country I live in and I want to help change it: any suggestions?
Many times the wheel of life already suggests that your country worries you. I encourage you to join forces to positively influence change in your country, and to do so by asking yourself some reflections on life about:
- What are your best skills and values?
- Have you thought about joining or being part of social organisations?
- Which actions have you taken for this change, and which others could you take?
I don’t like the city I live in and I want to help change it: any suggestions?
I encourage you to join forces to positively influence change in your city, and to reflect on:
- What are your best skills and values?
- Have you thought about joining or being part of social organisations?
- Which actions have you taken for this change, and which others could you take?
I don’t like the neighbourhood I live in and I want to help change it: any suggestions?
It is ideal to think about happiness for everyone; that is why I encourage you to join forces to positively influence change in your neighbourhood, and to reflect on your best skills and values.
- Have you thought about joining or being part of social organisations?
- Which actions have you taken for this change, and which others could you take?
- Which experiences are you creating with the neighbourhood?
- Perhaps it is time to start thinking about where to buy your new home
I want to change house: any suggestions?
To make your move possible, I suggest you reflect on:
- Which necessary and motivating factors must your dream house have?
- Which ideas come to mind to get it?
- What are the pros and cons of moving house?
- Who can advise you to make changes in your life?
I want to change some aspects of my home, surroundings, atmosphere, etc.: any suggestions?
Life at home can be complicated, and to make the changes you want you need to ask yourself:
- In which environment do you want to live?
- What would you like each of the rooms in your home to represent for you?
- How would you be more comfortable?
- How could you set goals in relation to your necessary and motivating conditions to achieve it?
Can I improve living together with the people I share my home with?
This kind of question often comes up when doing exercises for couples in conflict. To improve living together, ask yourself:
- What is the origin of these problems of living together?
- What does the other side think?
- Which things do you want to improve, and how can you do it?
- When are you going to put it into practice?
