How to do a life audit

Feb 27

Written By Emilee

A simple, straightforward life audit walkthrough. Figure out what’s working in your life - and what isn’t. A life audit is the first step in making transformative change in your life and business.

Tell me if this sounds like you:

setting goals that you feel like you’re supposed to set
trying to hype yourself up to do something about those goals
continuously “failing” at your goals because they just don’t feel right
feeling out of touch with yourself and what you want out of life

Sound familiar? If this is you, babe, you’re not alone. So many of us just walk around going through the motions of what we think we’re supposed to do. We set the goals our families, friends, peers, teachers, influencers, society tell us we should set and then we struggle to motivate ourselves to reach them - and even if we do reach them, it isn’t as satisfying as we thought it would be.

That’s where I was when the pandemic hit. Three-quarters of the way through a PhD, and absolutely lost. It took me two-plus years to feel like I was on solid ground again (TBH I’m still sorting through it all). The first thing that actually shifted something in my mindset was a life audit.

What is a life audit?

A life audit has two parts: first, you’ll complete a full, thorough assessment of your life; then, you’ll build out a lifestyle design blueprint that will take you from point A - where you are now - to point B - where you really, truly, actually want to be.

This guide will walk you through the four steps of a life audit:

Reflect
Envision
Design
Revisit

What you’ll need to complete the life audit:

time - probably two to three hours, ideally uninterrupted.
honesty - this is not the time to sugarcoat! If you can’t be fully transparent and open with yourself through this process, it won’t work.
something to write or type on - if you don’t want to do it from scratch, don’t forget to download your free workbook!

Step One: Reflect

If you’re not using the workbook, download or look at the wheel of life, or reference the list below. The wheel is a good visual exercise to assess balance in the areas of your life. Rate your satisfaction with each area of your life on a scale of one to ten, filling in the slices on the wheel or just assigning a number on a list.

career, business, education
recreation, leisure, hobbies, travel
physical health, exercise, nutrition
social health, relationships, family
mental and emotional health
finances
spirituality
personal development, sense of self
environment, home

For each area, ask yourself the following questions and answer thoughtfully. Try to be specific, because the next step will involve those specifics:

What’s going well here? What’s working? Why?
What’s not working? What could be different? Why?

Really take your time to assess here. Spend time with the why.

Step two: Envision

How many of your life areas earned a ten in that last exercise? This next step involves envisioning what it would look like to have a 10 out of 10 in each area of your life. Go back through the list, and using the specifics you wrote down, imagine what specifics could take each area to a ten.

Do not shrink yourself for this activity. You want to be really clear on what that ten looks like for you, regardless of how close you are to it and regardless of what other people might think of that ten. Be specific and be clear.

For example, instead of “I’m making more money,” you might say “I make $6500 a month, covering all of my expenses and allowing me to travel and save for my future.”

Another great addition to this step is a vision board. I have my vision board on Pinterest, and I scroll through it regularly to keep my goals and dreams front and center. Create your vision board and keep it somewhere you’ll come back to it and see it frequently.

Step three: Design your dream life

Now it’s time to set some goals and build some systems. We aren’t going to tackle every life area all at once. We’ll start with one, and use the same framework for the others. (If you want a super-straightforward 90-day goal planner to get you started, you can grab mine from Amazon!)

In step two we identified what it will look like when you move from where you are now to that level ten in each area. Pick the area you feel most clear on, and we’ll start by setting a goal there.

Remember, we want our goals to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. So make sure it’s super clear, you have a way to know it’s complete, it’s realistic in the context of your current life, it’s relevant to your life, and it has a definite deadline.

Now, I want you to imagine that you’re at your goal deadline, and you’ve achieved your goal. What daily or weekly actions did you take to achieve it? If your goal was to run a 5k (because a 10 for your physical health looks like running regular 5k races), did you run every day? Work out a few times a week? Up your protein and carb intake?

These daily and weekly actions are what we use to build the systems that will carry us to our goals. Design those systems, and then implement them. Don’t wait. Use the momentum from the life audit to keep yourself accountable and dive in to your goals.

Step four: Revisit

A life audit is both a snapshot in time and a living, breathing process. If you assess your life, set your goals, and then walk away, you’re only half done. Now it’s time to revisit the audit and the goals you’ve set, and revisit it often. Come back to the vision you spent time crafting, the dream life you spelled out for yourself. Remind yourself of your level-ten goals. Put those systems into practice and then come back to see how far they’ve gotten you.

And there you have it! I like to do a life audit about once a year, or whenever I start to feel unclear or directionless or when I know there’s something wrong but can’t quite put my finger on it.

If you’re struggling to define your systems, if you’re unclear on your goals, or if you’re overwhelmed by how much it’s going to take to get to that level ten, I’d love to work with you. Book a free discovery call with me to learn more about my coaching packages and how we can work together to clarify your values, goals, and opportunities so that you can create the life you want. Really.

All the best,