Life Audit Without the Spreadsheet: 12 Areas, 3 Questions Each
A life audit is a slow look at the main areas of your life, one at a time, to see what is there. This one has twelve areas and three questions each, thirty-six in all, with no scores, no wheel, and no spreadsheet. One area a day takes ten minutes. The whole thing takes two weeks, or one afternoon.
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Most life audit templates ask you to rate each area from 1 to 10 and color in a wheel. I understand the appeal. A wheel looks like a result. But a 4 in "relationships" tells you nothing you can do on Tuesday, and most people I have watched fill one in spend the next twenty minutes arguing with the number. These questions skip the number. They ask for a fact instead: a day, a name, a sentence someone said.
The twelve areas are the twelve monthly themes of YOUR YEAR, in calendar order, because between them they already cover a life. You do not need to be part of anything to use them. Each area links to its theme page if, after three questions, you want a month's worth.
How to use these questions
One area at a time. Not all twelve in one sitting, unless you have a free afternoon and want one. One area a day is a good pace.
Write one sentence per question. A fact with a date or a name in it, not a verdict. "Thursday, after the budget call" is an answer. "I'm bad at this" is not.
No scoring. No 1 to 10, no colors, no wheel, no spreadsheet. If you catch yourself writing a number, cross it out and write what happened instead.
It is fine to skip. An area that does not apply this year gets a line through it. That is also information.
1. Energy: Make room for what matters
Energy here means the everyday kind: what you have in the morning, what is left at the end of the day, and where it goes in between.
On which day this week did you run out before the day did, and what was happening around 4 p.m.?
What is the first thing you drop when the week gets full: sleep, lunch, the walk, calling someone back?
What gave something back to you this month, even a little, and did you plan it or did it just happen?
Three questions from three areas. One sentence each, with a day or a name in it.
What is the first thing you drop when the week gets full? (Energy, question 2)
What do you order, choose, or pick when no one else's preference is in the room? (Desire, question 14)
What from this year do you want to carry into the next one, even if it is small? (Next Chapter, question 34)
That is a life audit. A small one, but a real one, and you can add an area tomorrow.
A small practice to go with them
One area, one page. Five minutes a day for as many days as you want to give it. A notebook, not a grid.
Minute 1. Pick the area that has been loudest this week. Not the most important one. The loudest. Write its name at the top of a fresh page.
Minutes 2 to 4. Answer its three questions, one sentence each. Put a name, a day, or an object in every sentence. If a sentence has none of those, it is probably a verdict. Try again.
Minute 5. Read the three sentences once and underline one word. Close the notebook. Tomorrow, a different area, or the same one if it is still loud.
What to notice: which area you picked first, and which one you keep not picking. The one you keep not picking is usually where the audit actually is. You do not have to go there yet. Just notice that you are walking around it.
Here is a composite example, drawn from many conversations and changed enough that it is no one in particular. A woman in her early fifties, kids mostly grown, a job she was good at and tired of, did one area a day through October. She went to Talents first, then Energy, then Gratitude, and skipped Money four days running. On day nine she did Money, and her answer to question 8 was "I check the account every Sunday night and I have not opened the retirement statement since March." She did not make a budget. She opened the statement, with her husband in the room, and said that the audit had mostly been about that one envelope the whole time.
You can stop here. No new goal, no purchase, no sharing required.
When this is not enough
A life audit is a look, not a verdict, and it is not a plan to fix all twelve areas by spring. Most people find one or two areas that want attention and ten that are quietly fine. If every area comes back heavy, or if the Energy and Fear questions keep producing the same sentence week after week, that is not an audit result. It is a sign that the weight has been there a while and deserves more than a notebook.
This is a reflection practice, not medical care or therapy. If things have been heavy for weeks, please talk with a doctor or a licensed therapist. In the US, you can call 988 or text 988 at any time.
Questions people ask
What is a life audit?
A life audit is a deliberate look at the main areas of your life, one at a time, to see what is actually there instead of what you assume is there. Most versions use scores and a wheel. This one uses three concrete questions per area and asks for a sentence with a date or a name in it. The point is not a rating. It is to notice which areas you have not looked at in a while.
What are the categories of a life audit?
Any set that covers a whole life will do. This audit uses twelve: energy, love, money, body, desire, relationships, freedom, fear, talents, purpose and direction, gratitude, and what comes next. They are the twelve monthly themes of YOUR YEAR, in calendar order. Other templates use six or eight. Fewer categories are fine. Fewer questions per category are fine too. Scores are the part to leave out.
How often should you do a life audit?
Once or twice a year is plenty for the full twelve areas, and many people do it in the fall, before the year turns. Between audits, a single area whenever it gets loud is more useful than the whole set on a schedule. If you find yourself wanting to do all twelve every month, that is usually worry looking for a form to fill in, and a smaller, weekly check-in will serve you better.
A life audit without a spreadsheet is thirty-six plain questions across twelve areas of a life, three per area, each asking for a fact rather than a rating. One area a day, one sentence per question, no scores. In two weeks you will know which two or three areas want attention, and that is all an audit was ever for.
Take these with you
Use “Print or save as PDF” above to keep these questions. No email is required.
Start with what is on your mind. The Energy Map asks five short questions and gives you a personal reflection and one small practice. Free, no email, no account. Try the Energy Map. This month's theme: Next Chapter: Take What Matters Forward.
Anna Smirnova is the author and facilitator of YOUR YEAR at Wonder Bend: twelve monthly themes, written reflections, small practices, and group reflection sessions. About Anna. Published . Updated .
