If you want to make the most of the new year, take stock and identify where in your life it might be helpful to make some changes, a life audit / scan is a great exercise to try. You can make this as large or small as you like, I’ve focused the below example on five key areas, you don’t need to do them all at once, and it may be that you don’t need to look at some areas at all, the choice is yours.
The idea is, you take each, or a single section, and look at and ask yourself the key questions – it can be helpful to write these down (grab a notebook, or even just the notes section of your phone) and answer each as honestly as you can. There are some thinking prompts for each section, and then a really simple task to help you actually complete the assessment of that area of your life. Further down, we then look at how to pull your results together, and take action that’s specifically tailored to you.
1. Time
Time is usually where people feel the problem first, but it’s probably the hardest area to actually see there is an issue.
Things to look at:
– What a normal weekday looks like, hour by hour
– Which parts of the day feel draining, neutral, or steady
– What tends to get rushed, delayed, or dropped altogether
– How much time is spent responding to other people, messages, or demands
When time might need a closer look:
– Evenings disappear without much memory of them
– Days feel full but not particularly productive
– Rest only happens once everything else is finished
How to audit it:
Track one normal week without changing anything. At the end of that week, label chunks of time as draining, neutral, or steady.
2. Relationships
Not every relationship needs the same level of access or energy.
Things to look at:
– How you feel after spending time with different people
– Which relationships require preparation, reassurance, or explanation
– Where you take responsibility for keeping things comfortable
– Which connections feel easy, and which feel tense or require too much effort
When relationships might need reviewing:
– You rehearse conversations in advance
– You feel responsible for other people’s moods
– You regularly leave interactions feeling depleted
How to audit it:
List key relationships and note how they tend to feel: steady, neutral, or draining. This should help you with noticing where your energy goes.
3. Finances
This section isn’t specifically about budgeting perfectly, but it is about knowing what’s actually going on, so you can then put a proper plan of action in place.
Things to look at:
– Your real monthly position (income vs outgoings)
– Which costs are fixed and which fluctuate
– Where spending feels intentional versus reactive
– Any financial worries you tend to avoid thinking about
When your finances might need reviewing:
– You avoid checking statements
– There’s a constant low level worry you can’t quite explain
– You don’t know your monthly surplus or shortfall
How to audit it:
Create a simple snapshot on one page: income, fixed costs, variable spending, savings or buffer.
4. Career
Career can be the hardest area to look at honestly, especially when stability and identity is involved. This isn’t for you to make on the spot decisions right now, it’s to help you really notice what you might want to contemplate changing in the future.
Things to look at:
– Which parts of your role use your skills properly
– Where you feel stretched in a good way versus worn down
– How much of staying is about fear rather than fit
– What your work costs you emotionally
When your career might need reviewing:
– Work requires constant vigilance
– Your sense of security is tied entirely to your role
– There’s no clear sense of direction or development
How to audit it:
Write two lists: what you currently tolerate, and what you would actually want more of. You’re not resolving anything here, you’re just noticing.
5. Health and Appearance
Health is usually looked at through rules, discipline, or comparison. Here, we want to look at it from a really neutral position.
Things to look at:
– How often you feel physically settled versus tense
– Whether you tend to override tiredness or discomfort
– How much energy goes into managing appearance
– Which habits feel supportive and which feel forced
When this area might need attention:
– Fatigue is constant
– Exercise feels like a chore, rather than something you enjoy
– Self-worth is closely tied to how you look or perform
How to audit it:
Note a few non negotiables that keep things stable, and any habits driven mainly by self criticism. No changes required yet.
Pulling It All Together
Once you’ve looked at a few areas, a useful question is:
If one area felt more stable, which others would feel easier by default?
This is where your attention wants to go first. You also may not even need to take immediate action in some areas, it may be that you just keep observing for a while, and you naturally find that things start to change through awareness.
Once you’ve completed a scan of one or more areas, the temptation is often to either do nothing with it, or to try and change everything at once. Neither is particularly helpful. The point of the audit isn’t the insight itself, but what you do after you’ve noticed something.
A few simple ways to move forward:
Pick One Area to Focus On (For Now)
You don’t need to act on everything you’ve identified.
Look back at your notes and ask:
– Which area feels the most unstable?
– Which one seems to affect the others?
– Which one feels like it would benefit from some attention, rather than a full overhaul?
That’s your starting point.
Decide Whether This Area Needs Action or Observation
For each area you’ve reviewed, it can be helpful to decide which category it falls into:
– Needs action
– Needs boundaries
– Needs monitoring
– Doesn’t need attention right now
As I said, sometimes awareness alone is enough to start shifting things. Other times, something needs to change more deliberately.
Make Changes Small and Specific
If you’ve identified an area that does need action, resist the urge to be ambitious.
Rather than asking “what would the ideal version of this look like?”, ask:
– What feels unsustainable right now?
– What feels slightly off, rather than completely broken?
– What would make this area feel 10–15% easier?
Examples might be:
– Protecting one evening a week from commitments
– Reducing contact with a draining relationship, rather than addressing it directly
– Putting a recurring diary reminder in to check finances once a month
– Exploring one training option, rather than planning a career change
– Removing one health habit that feels driven by guilt
Small, manageable changes are so much easier to keep up with, and actually implement, rather than trying to do a huge and overwhelming reset. It may also be helpful to tackle one at a time, rather than throwing everything you have at it in one go.
4. Give Changes Time Before Adding More
Once you’ve made one or two adjustments, let them settle.
It’s usually better to live with a change for a few weeks before layering anything else on. This will make it easier to tell what’s actually helping, and what just feels different because it’s new.
5. Revisit the Audit Periodically
Don’t treat your life audit as a one off exercise.
You should consider coming back to it:
– Every few months
– At the start of a new season
– When something starts to feel off again.
