A Level 10 Life
Documenting the rebuild — one area at a time
At a Glance
- Chris Whalen, 53, Southeast Missouri
- Open-heart, triple bypass survivor. Starting over and still rebuilding.
- A running record of the rebuild , updated regularly.
- 10 areas of my life — rated, tracked, and documented.
- One area at a time, documented honestly.
- Hard Truths. Most scores are under 5. That’s where the work is.
New Here?
Not sure where to start? My Start Here page will point you in the right direction.
Table of Contents
Introduction: How I Got Here
I didn’t start with a self-help book.
Most of my adult life I was focused on homesteading and self-sufficiency. Growing food, fixing things, building practical skills to live more independently. That was my version of a good life for a long time — hands-on, grounded, no drama. I wasn’t chasing personal development frameworks. I was just trying to live well on my own terms.
Then two things happened close together.
My mother passed away. Watching her decline over the years — and being present through it — made me think hard about time, purpose, and what I was actually doing with mine. Around the same time I walked away from a job I’d held for years, where I thought I would retire from. The work itself was fine. The leadership wasn’t. The person running things had made it into something I didn’t want to be part of anymore. There’s not much more to say about it than that.
Those two things together made me stop and take an honest look at everything. Not just one area — all of it at once. That’s when I started using the Level 10 Life framework.
Then came the triple bypass.
I was 53. Three blocked arteries, open heart surgery, months of cardiac rehab. That didn’t just reinforce what I’d already started — it kicked everything into a higher gear. When you come out the other side of something like that, drifting through the rest of your life stops being an option.
So that’s where this comes from. Not inspiration. Just reality.
What Is a Level 10 Life?
The concept comes from Hal Elrod’s book The Miracle Morning, and it’s based on something called the Wheel of Life — a tool that’s been around a lot longer than that book.
The process is simple:
- Rate the major areas of your life on a scale of 1 to 10
- Identify where you’re lowest
- Pick one area to work on
- Improve it gradually
No perfection. No dramatic transformation. Just honest progress.
I looked at how other people handled their ratings before I settled on my own approach. Some track tasks, some track progress, some just go by gut feeling. Mine is closer to the gut feeling side — how satisfied am I with where this area actually stands right now. Then I try to figure out why I feel that way, and what one small thing I could start doing about it.
Some of that came from watching how others used the system. Some of it came from years of management — at my previous job and in the concrete industry. I had learned that you need to honestly list what’s actually wrong first, then build a realistic action plan around it. Same principle applies here.
I’ve shaped the categories to fit my life. Similar to what most people use, just adjusted to match what actually matters and affects me personally.
When I first filled it out honestly, it was uncomfortable to see the numbers. But once they were there, something shifted. I had a path. I had somewhere to start walking.
Why a Level 10 Life?
Most people have a general sense that something in their life needs work. But it stays vague — vague about what the actual problem is, and vague about what to do about it even if you could name it. A general feeling and a general plan don’t move anything forward.
This framework forces you to get specific. You pick a category, you ask yourself how satisfied you actually are with it right now, and you put a number on it. Then you have to look at why. When I scored Relationships a 1, I didn’t just pick a number. I thought through each one — what’s actually there, what’s been tried, what hasn’t changed. That’s what the process asks you to do. Not a general feeling, but a real look at the specific reality.
That’s where the honesty comes in. And that’s what makes it uncomfortable.
Some of these scores I know exactly what to work on. Others I’ve sat with for a long time and still don’t have an answer. That’s part of it too. The framework doesn’t promise solutions. It just makes sure you’re not pretending the problems aren’t there.
For me, that honesty became the starting point. Not a plan. Not a system. Those came later. Just an honest look at where things actually stood. That’s what made it useful.
What I'm Doing With It
I’m using this page to track real progress across the ten categories — not as a productivity system, but as documentation. Where things stand. What’s moving. What isn’t.
- Scores get updated quarterly on the website
- I redraw my bar graphs monthly in my bullet journal
- Each category has its own page with more detail
- Once a year I write a reflection post looking back at the full year
This isn’t a before-and-after story. It’s a running record of the rebuild as it’s happening.
My Level 10 snapshot (right now)
When I first filled out the Level 10 Life chart honestly, the numbers were uncomfortable to see.
Some areas of my life were better than I expected. Others were a lot lower than I wanted to admit. But the number wasn’t just uncomfortable because it was low — it was uncomfortable because it made the problem specific. Relationships wasn’t just ‘not great’ anymore. It was a 1. And a 1 demands a reason.
Writing those numbers down felt a little like looking at a dashboard when the warning lights come on. You can ignore a general feeling. You can’t ignore a warning light that’s sitting right in front of you.
But once they were there in front of me, something shifted. The vague became specific. And specific meant I actually had something to work on.
For the first time in a while though, I could see where to start.
*1–10 scale • Last updated: 2026-02-08*
This is my starting point — I’m raising these one step at a time.
The scores aren’t meant to impress anyone. They’re meant to show where the work is. Relationships and Career sitting at 1 is hard to look at. Financial at 2 reflects the reality of what the surgery left behind. Education and Home at 5 are the bright spots — and right now I’ll take them.
Each part of this chart represents a major area of my life.
I’m working through them one at a time — writing honestly about where things stand, what I’m trying, and what’s changing along the way.
Some of these areas are in good shape. Others need a lot of work. This page is where I keep track of that process.
Focus this month: Physical Health (3 → 4)
One small thing I did:
- Walking – in progress
Still working on:
- My Nutrition – plan is there, not implemented yet
- My Fitness – same situation
How This Connects to the Rest of My Life
The Level 10 Life chart is the way I keep track of the big areas of my life.
But each of those areas connects to other parts of this site.
Healthspan and Lifespan are how I think about the physical side of the rebuild. The house, yard, and other projects show what rebuilding looks like in the real world. The writing itself is part of the learning and reflection process.
So this page isn’t meant to stand alone. It’s more like the map that shows where everything else fits.
When I write about health, work, the house, or anything else going on in my life, it usually connects back to one of these areas.
What I'm Working Through
I’m going through each category one at a time — writing about where I actually am, what I’ve tried, and what’s moving and what isn’t. Not a guide. Just documentation.
Physical Health — 3/10
Body health, recovery from surgery, weight, strength, and energy. The bypass changed everything about how I think about this one.
Mental Health — 4/10
Stress levels, clarity, emotional stability. And what I learned watching my mother’s decline — that one sits close.
Spiritual Health — 3/10
Not strictly religion. More about meaning, grounding, and making sense of things day to day. This is my current focus.
Coming soon
Relationships — 1/10
The hardest one to write about. But it belongs here and I’m not going to skip it.
Coming soon
Fun / Leisure — 4/10
This one surprises people when they see how low it is on most lists. I think it matters more than it gets credit for.
Coming soon
Self-Development — 3/10
The journaling, the bullet journal system, the intentional habits. What’s working and what I keep avoiding.
Coming soon
Education & Learning — 5/10
Still reading, still researching, still trying to learn things. This one has always been a strength — just needs to stay that way.
Coming soon
Career — 1/10
Walmart pays the bills right now. That’s the honest answer. There’s more to say about where I want this to go — but that’s where it starts.
Coming soon
Financial — 2/10
The surgery created a financial mess I’m still dealing with. Bankruptcy is part of that story. This section will be honest about all of it.
Coming soon
Home — 5/10
The house, the yard, the Blazer restoration, the Armada. The physical space I’m trying to build into something worth having.
Coming soon
What I’ve Learned So Far
- Honest scores are harder to write down than you’d think
- The areas you score lowest are usually the ones you’ve been avoiding the longest
- Small progress in one area tends to quietly move others
- The homesteading mindset helps here — practical, incremental, no drama
- Recovery from surgery changes your relationship with every single one of these categories
What This Page Is
This page serves three purposes.
Life Snapshot — an honest look at where things in my life actually stand right now
Rebuild Dashboard — a simple way for me to see which areas need attention
Site Hub — connecting each part of life to the posts and pages where I’m working through them
- Personal Record – something that may one day help my kids understand my journey.
I started this page to keep a clear record of where things stand and how they change over time. Some areas are moving forward. Others still need work.
Maybe it helps someone else who’s rebuilding their life too.
Maybe one day it helps my kids understand the journey a little better.
Either way, this is the map I’m using while I rebuild.
— Chris
FAQ
What is the Level 10 Life system? It’s a framework for rating the major areas of your life on a 1–10 scale. The idea is to identify where you’re lowest and work on improving one area at a time. The concept comes from Hal Elrod’s The Miracle Morning, though the Wheel of Life it’s based on has been around much longer.
What are the ten categories? Physical Health, Mental Health, Spiritual Health, Relationships, Fun & Leisure, Self-Development, Education & Learning, Career, Financial, and Home. These are the categories I use — other people adapt them to fit their own lives.
How often do you update your scores? I redraw my bar graphs in my bullet journal monthly and update the scores on this page quarterly. Once a year I write a full reflection post.
Is this a self-improvement program? No. It’s a documentation tool. I’m not teaching anyone how to live. I’m recording where my life stands, what I’m working on, and what I’m learning along the way.
Why are so many scores under 5? Because that’s where they actually are. The point of this system is honesty, not presentation. Scores that look bad are just showing where the work needs to happen.
Related Pages & Posts
- Level 10 Life: Physical Health – where the rebuild started, and what the bypass changed about how I think about my body
- Level 10 Life: Mental Health – stress, clarity, and what I’ve learned about keeping my head above water
- Crafting My Level 10 Life – how I first approached this system and what I was working on when I started
- Starting Over After 50 – what it actually looks like to rebuild your life when you’re past the halfway point
Next Steps
→ Healthspan — how long I stay capable, not just alive
→ Lifespan — thinking about how many years are actually left
→ My Journey — where all of this started
→ Start Here — new to the site? start here
Stay in the Loop
If you want to follow along as this rebuild continues, I send out a newsletter called The Old Man’s Journal — occasional updates, what I’m working on, what I’m learning.