One simple test to make you happier

In less than a minute, you can find out how to make your life more balanced.

Our lives are made up of a whole number of different elements that are important to us, be it family and friends, work or business, or the pursuit of private hobbies. But it’s crucial for everyone to find the right balance between these things whatever they may be. Otherwise, life has a tendency to focus too much of our attention on just a few things, which can ultimately make us unhappy.

We came across a very simple test which is widely used among psychologists to help people find a better life balance.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Copy the diagram above onto a piece of paper.
• On a scale of 1 to 10, evaluate how successful you’ve been over the past year in each of the indicated areas. Then join the marks you’ve given yourself on the scale together to form a circle.
• You’ll end up with your own personal ’life wheel’, which will help you understand which elements of your life you need to devote either more or less attention to.

Don’t despair if you don’t score a 10 in any area of the circle, or if you end up with a ’cog’ rather than a wheel. This test is just a way of finding out how you can change your life for the better. Of course, you can also add more elements to the circle if you think something’s missing. However it looks, this exercise should help you to make sense of where the imbalance is in your life — and in turn, the reasons why you might not be completely happy.

Try to do this exercise once a month. Positive change doesn’t take forever, and eventually your ’life wheel’ should become much more even.