Self-Direction Method™
A practical framework for developing self-awareness, responsible choice, and personal direction.
Developed by Dr. Kirk Slagel / Wellness Education Network
Six-Sided Circle poster published in 2015.
© 2015–2026 Kirk Slagel. All rights reserved.
The Development of the Self-Direction Method™
The Self-Direction Method™ grew from a simple question:
How do we help people become more aware of themselves, make thoughtful choices, and take greater responsibility for the direction of their own lives?
Since 1977, Dr. Kirk Slagel has explored that question through outdoor education, experiential learning, leadership, wellness education, emergency response, teaching, and real-world experience.
Over nearly five decades, these experiences have contributed to an evolving understanding of how people learn, make decisions, respond to challenges, work with others, care for themselves, and develop the capacity to direct themselves.
From Experience to Framework
An important part of this evolution began with The Six-Sided Circle: An Adventure in Creating Self-Direction. Beginning in 2012, Dr. Slagel brought together years of observations, experiences, teaching, and practical "wisdom pearls" into a framework for exploring self-direction and responsible action.
Explore the origins of the Self-Direction Method™
The Six-Sided Circle: An Adventure in Creating Self-Direction
Learn more about the book →In 2015, the developing framework was translated into a visual teaching tool—the original Six-Sided Circle poster—while Dr. Slagel was teaching at Desert Marigold, a Waldorf-inspired school. The visual framework provided a simple way to introduce concepts of self-direction, responsibility, cooperation, communication, and personal choice in an educational setting.
The book was completed and published in 2018.
The work continued to evolve through teaching, writing, outdoor leadership, wellness education, and practical application.
A Broader Framework Emerges
The development of the Five Spheres of Wellness™ added another dimension to the work by providing a whole-person perspective on the interconnected aspects of human experience.
Together, the Five Spheres of Wellness™, the Six-Sided Circle™, and the Self-Direction Method™ form an evolving educational framework for exploring wellness, awareness, reflection, choice, responsibility, relationships, and personal direction.
The components are designed to work together rather than exist as isolated ideas.
How the Components Work Together
The Six-Sided Circle™, Five Spheres of Wellness™, and Self-Direction Method™ represent interconnected parts of an evolving educational framework. Each contributes a different perspective to the work.
The Six-Sided Circle™ — The Foundation
The Six-Sided Circle™ represents the foundational framework from which the work began, exploring self-direction through personal responsibility, choice, cooperation, communication, and our relationships with ourselves and others.
Five Spheres of Wellness™ — The Whole-Person Perspective
The Five Spheres of Wellness™ provide a whole-person perspective for understanding the interconnected dimensions of our experience and the many factors that influence how we live, learn, make choices, and direct our lives.
Self-Direction Method™ — The Developmental Process
The Self-Direction Method™ brings these ideas together within a developmental process that supports awareness, reflection, thoughtful choice, action, responsibility, and continued personal direction.
In simple terms:
- • The Six-Sided Circle™ provides the foundational framework.
- • The Five Spheres of Wellness™ provide the whole-person perspective.
- • The Self-Direction Method™ provides the developmental process.
- • Together, they provide an evolving framework for exploring wellness, leadership, self-awareness, responsible choice, relationships, and personal direction.
Within the Self-Direction Method™ are additional developmental and practical components that provide structure for learning, reflection, decision-making, action, and continued growth.
4 Developmental Stages • 7 Steps • 6 Principles • Six-Sided Circle • Five Spheres of Wellness
The complete framework is developed through educational materials, experiential learning, guided practice, reflection, and real-world application.
The Four Developmental Stages
The Self-Direction Method™ includes four interconnected developmental stages that provide an underlying structure for growth toward greater awareness, reflection, intentional action, and self-direction. The stages are explored through guided learning, experiential practice, reflection, and real-world application.
The Seven-Step Process
The Seven-Step Process provides a practical structure for applying the Self-Direction Method™ through learning, decision-making, action, reflection, and continued growth.
The Six Principles
The Six Principles provide practical guidance for developing responsible self-direction in everyday life, learning, leadership, and relationships.
The Six-Sided Circle™
The Six-Sided Circle™ represents an important stage in the evolution of the Self-Direction Method™. Originally developed beginning in 2012 and adapted into a teaching poster in 2015, it became an important visual and educational expression of the developing framework.
Original concept and poster developed 2015
© 2015–2026 Kirk Slagel. All rights reserved.
© 2015–2026 Kirk Slagel. All rights reserved.
The Self-Direction Method™ evolved from the Six-Sided Circle™ framework and continues to develop through teaching, application, reflection, and experience.
The Five Spheres of Wellness™
The Five Spheres of Wellness™ provide a whole-person perspective for understanding the interconnected dimensions of human experience and how they influence the way we experience ourselves, make choices, and direct our lives.
ENERGY • SPIRIT • MIND • EMOTION • BODY
The Five Spheres of Wellness™ are explored in greater depth in Dr. Kirk Slagel's book, The Five Spheres of Wellness: Navigating Whole-Person Health.
The Five Spheres provide the whole-person perspective within the broader WEN framework, while the Self-Direction Method™ provides a process for working with what we discover.
Learn more about The Five Spheres of Wellness →From Experience Came the Framework
The Self-Direction Method™ did not emerge from a single theory, classroom, or moment. It has developed gradually through decades of teaching, leading, observing, questioning, writing, experimenting, reflecting, and learning from experience.
The Beginning
Dr. Kirk Slagel began his professional outdoor education career with the Illinois State University Campus Recreation Outdoor Program, leading outdoor experiences and teaching practical skills. These early experiences became part of a lifelong exploration of experiential learning, responsibility, decision-making, cooperation, leadership, and self-direction.
The Six-Sided Circle Begins
After decades of outdoor education, leadership, teaching, and wellness work, Dr. Slagel began bringing these ideas together more intentionally while writing The Six-Sided Circle: An Adventure in Creating Self-Direction.
Classroom Application
The developing framework was adapted into the original Six-Sided Circle teaching poster, providing a visual and accessible way to introduce the concepts in an educational environment.
The Book
The Six-Sided Circle: An Adventure in Creating Self-Direction was completed and published.
The Method Takes Shape
The work continued to evolve beyond the original Six-Sided Circle framework. By 2023, the emerging Self-Direction Method™ was taking clearer shape as a broader educational methodology, bringing together awareness, reflection, choice, action, responsibility, and personal direction.
The Work Continues
The publication of The Five Spheres of Wellness: Navigating Whole-Person Health expanded the framework into a broader exploration of whole-person wellness. The Self-Direction Method™ continues to evolve through teaching, application, observation, reflection, and learning.
1977 — Experience begins
2012 — Ideas become a framework
2015 — Framework becomes a teaching tool
2018 — Framework becomes a book
2023 — Framework begins becoming a method
2026 — Method expands into a broader educational system
From experience came the framework.
From the framework came the method.
From the method comes the opportunity to learn, practice, and apply.
The Purpose
The goal is not to tell people how to live.
It is to help people develop the awareness, skills, judgment, confidence, and responsibility to increasingly direct themselves.
The Self-Direction Method™ continues to evolve through teaching, application, observation, reflection, and learning.
Wellness. Leadership. Self-Direction.
The work continues.
© 2015–2026 Kirk Slagel. All rights reserved.