Life Audit Template: Template, Example and Tips

A life audit template is a structured worksheet a client fills in before a coaching session to take stock of their whole life: a score for each life area backed by evidence from the last 90 days, a list of what to keep, stop and start, and one clear 90-day focus. The free template below is written for life coaches to hand to clients as it is, with [bracketed] spaces for your own details, plus a filled example, a section-by-section guide and the scope lines you need to add.

We make Coachful, a coaching platform, so this guide also shows where the worksheet fits in a Coachful practice: it is sent to the client as a worksheet before the session, completed in the client's branded app, and stored on the client record next to their intake answers, signed agreement, goals and check-ins. You can just as easily print it or paste it into a document; the comparison later in the article covers every route.

Use it at the start of a new engagement, at the turn of a quarter, after a big change such as a move, a breakup or a promotion, or whenever a client says "everything feels a bit off and I can't say why". The audit gives that feeling a shape you can coach.

What does a complete life audit template contain?

A complete version has eight parts: a short setup, area scores, evidence, energy, commitments, keep/stop/start lists, a 90-day focus and a review plan. Skip the evidence and you get a mood check; skip the focus and you get a list of complaints. Use this checklist to judge any version you find or write.

How is a life audit different from a wheel of life or a life plan?

A wheel of life is a quick snapshot, a life audit is an evidence-based review with decisions, and a life plan is a long-range vision. They work best in that order.

The wheel of life asks a client to score each area and look at the shape. It takes ten minutes and is a great opener, but it stops at the score. The life audit keeps the same areas and asks the harder follow-up questions: what in the last 90 days earned that number, what are you going to stop doing, and what single change matters most this quarter. A life plan template looks three to ten years out: values, vision, the person the client wants to become. Many coaches run the audit first, because it is hard to plan a future when you have not looked honestly at the present.

If your client's main issue is time rather than the whole of life, the 7-day time audit is a narrower tool you can attach to section 3.

The free life audit template (copy and paste)

Copy everything from "Life audit" down to the review plan into your own document, form or worksheet. Replace the [bracketed] text with your details. The wording speaks directly to the client.

Life audit
Prepared by [your name], [your coaching business] for [client name]
Date completed: [date] · Session it is for: [session date]

Part 1: Before you start

1. Set aside [60 to 90] minutes in a quiet place. You can split it over two sittings.
2. Have three things open: your calendar for the last 90 days, your bank or card statements for the same period, and your phone's screen-time report.
3. Answer for your life as it is now, not as it was at its best or as you think it should be. A 4 is useful information. A polite 7 is not.
4. Only [your name] will read this. It is used to plan our coaching and is stored [where you store it]. You may skip any question, and you can ask me to delete your answers at any time.
5. This is a coaching exercise, not a psychological assessment. If a question brings up something that feels too heavy to handle on your own, stop, and see the note at the end of this worksheet.

Part 2: Score each area of your life

For each area, give two scores from 1 to 10. Satisfaction: how content you are with this area today. Importance: how much this area matters to you over the next year. Then write the gap (importance minus satisfaction) and one sentence explaining your satisfaction score.

1. Health and energy (sleep, movement, food, how your body feels most days). Satisfaction: [1 to 10] · Importance: [1 to 10] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [one sentence]
2. Work and career (the work itself, growth, how you are treated, where it is heading). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
3. Money (income, spending, saving, debt, how often you worry about it). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
4. Partner or romantic life (or the absence of one, if that matters to you). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
5. Family (parents, children, siblings, the family you have chosen). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
6. Friends and community (who you can call, who you see, where you belong). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
7. Home and surroundings (the space you live in, your neighbourhood, your daily commute). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
8. Growth and learning (skills, curiosity, courses, reading, new experiences). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
9. Fun, rest and meaning (play, hobbies, faith or spiritual practice, the sense that your days add up to something). Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]
10. [Optional area you want to add], for example creativity, caregiving or a health condition you manage. Satisfaction: [ ] · Importance: [ ] · Gap: [ ] · Why: [ ]

Circle the three areas with the largest gap. Those are your candidates for this quarter.

Part 3: Look at the evidence from the last 90 days

1. Scroll through your calendar. Which three kinds of events took the most hours? [answer]
2. Which events did you look forward to? Which did you dread or cancel? [answer]
3. Look at your statements. What are your three largest categories of spending after housing? Does that spending match the importance scores you gave in Part 2? [answer]
4. What does your screen-time report say about your average day? Which app surprised you? [answer]
5. Name one thing that went well in the last 90 days and what you did to make it happen. [answer]
6. Name one thing that went badly and what, if anything, was within your control. [answer]
7. Now look back at Part 2. Do you want to change any score after seeing the evidence? Which ones, and why? [answer]

Part 4: Energy givers and drains

• Three people who leave you with more energy than before: [names or roles]
• Three people or situations that leave you with less: [names or roles]
• The tasks you lose track of time doing: [answer]
• The tasks you postpone again and again: [answer]
• The time of day you feel sharpest: [answer]. What usually happens in that slot? [answer]

Part 5: Your commitments

List every recurring commitment you carry: roles at work beyond your job title, committees, volunteer work, groups, favours you do weekly, subscriptions, and promises you have made to others. Mark each one: chosen (I would sign up again today), inherited (I said yes once and it stuck) or owed (I keep it out of guilt or fear).

1. [commitment] · [chosen / inherited / owed] · [hours per month]
2. [commitment] · [chosen / inherited / owed] · [hours per month]
3. [add as many lines as you need]

Part 6: Keep, stop, start

• Keep (things that work and deserve protecting): [up to five items, each with one reason]
• Stop (things that cost more than they give): [up to five items, each with one reason and the first step to stopping]
• Start (things you keep postponing that would raise a low score): [up to five items, each with the area it improves]

Star one item on each list that you are willing to act on in the next two weeks.

Part 7: Your 90-day focus

Choose one area, two at most, from your circled gaps. Fewer areas means more progress.

1. Focus area: [area]
2. What a 2-point improvement would look like by [date 90 days from now], described so someone else could see it: [answer]
3. Why this matters to you now, in your own words: [answer]
4. Weekly actions (no more than three): [action] · [action] · [action]
5. One daily or weekly habit that supports it: [habit, frequency, time of day]
6. How you will measure progress each week: [measure, for example hours, number of evenings, amount saved]
7. The obstacle most likely to get in the way, and your plan for it: [answer]
8. Who or what will support you (besides your coach): [answer]
9. What you are willing to say no to in order to make room: [answer]

Part 8: Review plan

• Day 30 check-in: [date]. Question: what is working, what needs adjusting?
• Day 60 check-in: [date]. Question: am I still choosing this focus, or has something more important come up?
• Day 90 re-score: [date]. Score all nine areas again and compare.

A note on wellbeing

Coaching supports you in making changes in your life. It is not therapy, counselling or medical care, and I do not diagnose or treat any condition. If this exercise brings up thoughts of harming yourself, a sense of hopelessness that has lasted weeks, trauma, a relationship where you feel unsafe, or a problem with alcohol, drugs, food or money that feels out of control, please tell me and contact a licensed professional. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number. In the United States you can call or text 988 at any time. [Add the crisis line for your client's country.]

How does each section of the life audit work?

Each part answers a different coaching question, and each has a typical way of going wrong. The table is your reading guide when the completed worksheet comes back.

Two patterns are worth naming to the client directly. The first is the "fine everywhere" audit, where every area scores 6 or 7: the client is usually tired rather than content, and Part 3 tends to show it. The second is the single-area audit, where one very low score (often work or a relationship) colours everything else. In that case, a 90-day focus on the low area alone often lifts several scores at once, and the re-score at day 90 shows it.

If you also want to check how well your own practice turns audits into results over time, the quarterly deliverable audit and the between-session change audit apply the same idea to your coaching rather than the client's life.

What must life coaches add before sending it?

Add four things before the first client sees it: a scope line, a safety route, a data note and anything your local law requires. The template includes placeholders for each; this section explains what goes in them.

Scope of practice

A life audit touches health, money and relationships, which are also the territory of doctors, therapists, financial advisers and lawyers. Your worksheet and your conversation should stay on the coaching side of that line: exploring what the client wants, what they are doing, and what they will change. Avoid diagnosis or treatment language in your follow-up notes and messages. Write "low energy most afternoons", not "signs of depression"; "worried about debt", not "financial crisis". The ICF Code of Ethics asks coaches to be clear about the nature and limits of coaching and to refer clients to other professionals when that serves them better. Put the same line in your coaching contract so the worksheet and the agreement say the same thing.

Safety and referral

Decide your referral route before you need it. Keep two or three local options to hand: a therapist or counsellor you trust, the client's own doctor, and a crisis line for each country you coach in. In the United States the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline takes calls and texts at any hour. Refer when the audit or the session surfaces:

• Thoughts of self-harm or suicide, or of harming someone else
• Low mood, hopelessness or anxiety that has lasted weeks and affects daily life
• Trauma that the client keeps returning to
• Abuse, coercion or feeling unsafe at home
• Patterns around alcohol, drugs, gambling or eating that the client cannot control
• Physical symptoms the client has not had checked by a doctor
• Debt or legal problems that need a financial adviser, debt charity or lawyer

Referral does not have to end the coaching. Many clients work with a therapist and a coach at the same time; you simply keep the coaching on goals and actions.

Sensitive data

Answers about health, relationships, faith and money are among the most personal data a client will ever give you. Under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation, health data and data about religious beliefs are special categories that need explicit consent and extra care. In practice: collect only what you will use, say where it is stored, keep it out of shared folders and personal email, and delete it when the engagement ends and any retention period you have set has passed. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified, so if you also hold a clinical licence, clinical records belong in a clinical system, not in your coaching tool.

Local law and special cases

Rules on record keeping, consent and coaching minors vary by state and country. If you coach teenagers, add parental consent and a line on what you share with parents; the teen life coaching guide covers this. If you coach within a faith tradition, you may want to rename area 9 or add a separate area for spiritual life. When in doubt, have a local lawyer read your worksheet and agreement together.

What does a completed life audit look like?

Example only: a fictional client with invented answers. Mara is 41, works as an operations manager, has two children and came to coaching saying "I'm busy all the time and I don't know what for".

Evidence (Part 3), example answers. Mara's calendar showed 11 evening work calls in 90 days and three PTA meetings a month. Statements showed takeaway as the largest category after housing and childcare. Screen time averaged just over four hours a day, mostly email and news in bed. After this review Mara lowered Health from 4 to 3 and raised Work to 8: "Work isn't the problem, it's eating everything else."

Energy (Part 4). Givers: a walk with a colleague at lunch, cooking on Saturdays, a friend from university. Drains: the PTA committee, late emails, Sunday-night planning alone.

Commitments (Part 5). PTA treasurer (inherited, 8 hours a month), weekly call with a sibling (chosen), covering a colleague's Friday report (owed, 3 hours a month), two streaming subscriptions and a gym membership unused since April.

Keep, stop, start (Part 6).

• Keep: Saturday cooking with the kids (family, fun); the weekly call with a sibling (family).
• Stop: phone in the bedroom (health); PTA treasurer role at the end of term, first step is telling the chair this week (fun, health); the unused gym membership (money).
• Start: one evening a week with no screens with a partner (partner); a monthly dinner with a friend (friends); a 20-minute walk at lunch three days a week (health).

90-day focus (Part 7). Focus areas: Health and energy, with Fun and rest as the second. Outcome by 31 January: "In bed with the phone charging in the kitchen by 11 pm on at least five nights a week, and one thing a week that is just for me." Weekly actions: three lunch walks, one screen-free evening, one plan made with a friend. Habit: phone on the kitchen charger at 10:30 pm. Measure: nights in bed by 11 pm, logged each morning. Obstacle: evening calls with the US team; plan: ask the manager to move two of them to mornings. Support: partner agreed to the same phone rule. Saying no to: the PTA role after this term.

Notice what the example does. The biggest gap (fun and rest) did not become the only focus: Mara's evidence showed that sleep and phone use were driving several low scores, so the focus went there. The audit is a thinking tool, not a formula.

How do you run a life audit in Coachful?

In Coachful the life audit is one step in a client journey that already runs in one place: intake questions when the client books, an agreement signed before the first call, the audit as a pre-session worksheet, and then goals, habits and check-ins that carry the 90-day focus. Here is the order most life coaches use.

What Coachful is, in short. Coachful is a coaching platform built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions. One subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and Michelle, an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It suits solo life coaches and small teams replacing four to six separate tools. It does not do clinical record-keeping or insurance billing, it is not HIPAA-certified, and it does not take PayPal. To start, take a free trial and ask for the free white-glove build.

Step 1: Collect the basics at booking

Booking pages can ask intake questions, so the client's goals for coaching, their time zone and anything you need before the first call arrive with the booking itself. Keep the intake short and save the deeper questions for the audit; the life coach intake form guide has a ready-made question set. Answers sit on the client record, and the Intakes page tracks intake calls and conversions.

Step 2: Send the agreement before the first call

Coaching agreements with e-signature are sent before the first call and stored on the client record, so your scope and referral lines are signed before the client writes anything personal in the audit. The coaching contracts page shows how it works.

Step 3: Add the life audit as a worksheet

The Resources discover page lists 12 resource types, including Forms & Worksheets. Paste the template into a worksheet and swap in your details, so the client finds it in their coaching hub before the session. If you would rather not build it yourself, a form or worksheet is one of the things the white-glove team will build for you.

Step 4: What the client sees

The client opens your branded app (it runs inside the Coachful app with your branding) and sees their coaching hub: the next session, their programs, progress, documents and any worksheet due before the session. They fill it in on their phone or laptop, in more than one sitting if they like.

Step 5: Turn the 90-day focus into goals, habits and check-ins

This is where most paper audits die and where software helps most. The outcome from Part 7 becomes a goal with a progress bar. The weekly actions become tasks, the habit becomes a tracked habit with a streak, and morning or evening check-ins ask the daily question you chose as the measure. Multi-week programs can hold weekly goals and daily tasks if you run the audit as the first step of a 90-day program.

The short walkthrough below shows how check-ins are set up and what the client answers each day.

Step 6: Watch progress between sessions and prepare for the review

The client record holds goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, payments and sessions, and shows a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. A client who goes quiet in week three of their 90-day focus is easy to spot from the dashboard. Before each session, Michelle can brief you on the client from their live data, which saves rereading the whole audit before the day-30 check-in.

The client journey video shows how these steps link together into one flow, from welcome to weekly reviews.

Step 7: Invoice and re-score

Payments go through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with an invoice per transaction plus manual invoices when you need them; Coachful takes a 0% platform fee, so only processing fees apply. At day 90, send the audit again (Part 2 only is fine) and compare the scores side by side in the session. Current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can open Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE", describe what you need and attach up to 8 reference links and 10 files. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. For a life coach, that could be this audit as a worksheet, a 90-day program built around it, or a website with a booking funnel. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. Read more about the white-glove service.

How should you send and store a life audit?

Send the audit somewhere the client can complete it privately and you can find it again at day 90, ideally next to the goals that come out of it. The table compares the common routes; vendor prices are as listed in October 2026.

Whatever you choose, keep the completed audit somewhere you can open it with the client at day 90. The re-score is often the most motivating moment of the whole engagement, and it only works if the first set of numbers is still to hand. For more worksheets in the same style, browse coaching forms and questionnaires and the coaching templates library.

Which mistakes make a life audit useless?

Most failed audits fail in the follow-up, not the worksheet. These are the patterns to avoid.

• Scoring without evidence. Without Part 3, clients score their mood that morning. Insist on the calendar and statements, even if they only skim them.
• Choosing every gap. Five focus areas means no focus. Hold the line at one or two.
• A start list with no stop list. Every new habit needs time from somewhere. Ask what is ending to make room.
• Treating the scores as a verdict. A 3 is a starting point, not a grade. Say so out loud when you review it.
• Coaching what is not coaching. If the audit surfaces a clinical, legal or financial problem, refer first and coach the goals around it.
• Sending it cold. A long, personal worksheet from someone the client met once feels intrusive. Send it after the agreement is signed and the first conversation has built some trust.
• Reading it for the first time in the session. Read it the day before, mark the biggest gap, the most surprising piece of evidence and the starred items, and start there.
• No review date. An audit without a re-score is a diary entry. Put day 30, 60 and 90 in both calendars before the session ends.
• Using a generic version for every client. Rename areas to fit your niche: a career-change client may need "work" split into two areas, a faith-based client may want spiritual life on its own.

Is this template legal, medical or financial advice?

No. This life audit template is a coaching worksheet. It is not legal, medical, psychological or financial advice, and using it does not create a therapeutic relationship. Laws on consent, record keeping, data protection and coaching minors differ between states and countries. Have a local lawyer review your worksheet and agreement if you coach across borders, coach under-18s or collect health information. If you hold a clinical licence and want to use the audit with patients, have it reviewed under your professional body's rules and store it in your clinical system. If a client's answers point to a medical, mental health, legal or debt problem, refer them to a licensed professional.

Frequently asked questions

What is a life audit?

A life audit is a structured review of every major area of your life: how satisfied you are, how much each area matters, what the last 90 days show, and what you will keep, stop and start. It ends with one or two areas to focus on for the next 90 days. In coaching, it gives the engagement a clear starting point and a way to measure progress.

How long does a life audit take?

Most clients need 60 to 90 minutes for the full template, and many split it across two sittings. The evidence section takes longest because it means opening the calendar and bank statements. The day-90 re-score of Part 2 alone takes about ten minutes.

How often should a client do a life audit?

A full audit once a quarter suits most coaching engagements, with lighter check-ins at day 30 and 60. Clients who are not in active coaching often do one a year, around a birthday or the new year, or after a major change such as a move, a new job or the end of a relationship.

Is a life audit the same as a wheel of life?

No. The wheel of life is a quick score of each area and is a good opener. The life audit keeps the scores and adds evidence, commitments, keep/stop/start decisions and a 90-day focus. Many coaches use the wheel in the discovery call and the full audit in the first paid session.

Can I use this template with my own clients?

Yes. The template is free to copy, rename and adapt for your coaching practice. Replace the bracketed text with your details, add your country's crisis line and adjust the life areas to your niche. Do not present it as a clinical or psychological assessment.

What should a coach do if the audit raises a mental health concern?

Pause the coaching agenda, acknowledge what the client wrote and encourage them to contact a licensed professional or their doctor. If there is any risk of harm, give them an emergency number, and in the United States the 988 Lifeline. Note the referral in your records and continue coaching only on goals that sit within your scope.

Should a life audit be signed?

No signature is needed; it is a reflection worksheet, not an agreement. What does need a signature is your coaching agreement, which should contain the same scope and confidentiality lines and be signed before the client completes the audit.

Where should I store completed life audits?

Store them where only you and the client can see them, alongside the rest of that client's record, and delete them when the engagement and your stated retention period end. Avoid personal email and shared drives. A coaching platform keeps the audit next to the goals that come out of it, which makes the day-90 review simple.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

Every Coachful plan includes a free build service: you describe what you want, such as a worksheet, a program, a funnel or a website, attach references, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not invent credentials, testimonials or prices, and it does not include video recording, logo design or ad management.

Can I turn the life audit into a paid program?

Yes, and it is one of the most natural first offers for a life coach: a 90-day program that opens with the audit, turns the focus into weekly goals and habits, and ends with a re-score. Price it from your session time, the support you offer between sessions and what clients in your market pay, and test it with a few clients first.