Smart Questions That Will Super Charge Your Life
One of the most effective ways to achieve success is to ask yourself the right questions. When we ask ourselves a question, we always come up with an answer. Ask yourself “Why does this always happen to me,” and you’ll get an answer. But if you ask yourself “How can I have a great day today,” you’ll also get an answer. Which answer is going to empower you more? You got it. So why not ask yourself smart questions that will make you happier, more confident, more powerful, and more successful?
The world moves fast, our many interests are constantly being seduced by TV, the Web, and the omnipotent presence of marketing. Here are some questions you can use to keep you on the rails that lead to success.
How to Use Smart Questions
My recommendation is to take your favorite 5-10 questions from this list, write them down and post them near your desk, your bathroom mirror, the visor in your car and on the back of your cellphone. Pretty soon you’ll have them memorized and you’ll find yourself using these questions to filter out the wheat from the chaff.
The other way to use these questions is to take one question per day or per week. Write it down on a few yellow stickes and place them where you will see them all day long: by your bed, in the bathroom, in your car, at your desk and so on. Do this and watch the magic unfold!
Questions:
- What do I want to accomplish today?
- What is the most important thing I need to do today? (Do it first!)
- Is this the best use of my time right now?
- What am I trying to accomplish right now?
- What can I cross off my list by deleting or delegating? What is not important?
- What can I do right now to take the next leap instead of the next step?
- Who can I learn from today?
- Who can I thank today?
- What am I grateful for?
- How can I eliminate distractions right now?
- What are my top 3 current goals?
- What is most important to me in life?
- If the my world was going to end within one year, what would I be doing right now?
- What will I do today towards my major goals?
- What action can I take instead of worry right now?
- Who should I thank today?
- Who needs some love today?
- How can I be a kinder person today?
- How can I have more compassion today?
- What can I do right now to release negative energy in a positive way?
- What can I do to let go of my anger?
- How can I put worry on hold right now?
- How can I choose happiness right now?
- What can I do to slow down today?
- What am I learning right now?
- What beneficial routines can I start today?
- What will I do, see, explore, or experience today that is new?
- How and with whom can I partner today to make 1+1=3?
- How can I be more compassionate today?
- What will I celebrate today?
- Where did I find Joy today?
- What did I learn today?
- How will I “pay it forward” today?
- How will I make today great? How do I define great?
- What can I stop holding/clinging to help me break free?
- How can I let go with peace?
- Who can I help today?
- How can I add Peace to the world today?
- What’s the most powerful thing I can do right now, today to increase my business?
- What have I been avoiding that I can do today?
What are your favorite empowering questions? Please share!
K. Stone is author of Life Learning Today, a blog about daily life improvements. A few of her most popular articles are Ultimate Goal Setting Guide, How to Write a Book in 60 Days or Less, Should You Start Your Own Work at Home Business?, and How to Be a Great Salesperson.
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Comments
Brian says on August 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am
This is a very important concept, and replacing non-productive questions with productive questions yields amazing results. If you ask productive, contended people whether the spend more time asking themselves *why* something is the way it is or *how* to make things the way they want them to be, they’ll answer without hesitation that the productive *how* questions far outweigh the non-productive *why* questions. Interesting!
Dan says on August 7th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Who’s Joy? (And if it’s not a person, why is it capitalised?)
K. Stone says on August 7th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
@Brian - thanks for your validation!
@Dan - thanks for pointing that out. Joy is not a person. LOL. Funny. I capitalized it to put emphasis on the word, but I probably should have used bold formatting instead. *smiles*
Dirty Mind says on August 7th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Hmmm… it is just me or is this a loaded question:
With whom can I partner with today to make 1+1=3?
Prior to answering, one must consider each and every member of the opposite sex.
Geoffrey says on August 7th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Some other good questions for the end of the day:
Taking stock of what you did today.
Who did I help today?
Who did I hurt today?
If I could have done something differently what would it be?
Is there some way to make amends for the things I did today that I now regret?
If I had less than 5 1/2 years left to live, how would I want to spend my time on Earth?
May peace reign in your hearts, Geoff
Rick Wolff says on August 7th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
This is a long list. My day is half over already just reading it! If I had 6 months to live, I’d spend half the time reading this list.
Lindsey says on August 8th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Make a question jar. Print them out, cut them up, fold each one, and place them in a jar. When you’re feeling stressed about something trivial, pull out a random question. It is a great way to adjust perspective. Use them with your kids at the dinner table to get the converstion going.
beinspace says on August 8th, 2007 at 9:55 am
this are good questions
where are the answers ! ?
in the mean time you can send yourself to space in http://www.beinspace.com
KStone says on August 8th, 2007 at 10:49 am
@Lindsey - what a great idea!!! thanks for sharing that!
KStone says on August 8th, 2007 at 10:53 am
@Rick - you’re right, it is a long list. When I was writing it, I was debating keeping it short vs. making it longer. I went with longer so that people could choose questions that felt right for them. It also gives you more to choose from over time and hopefully spurs even more ideas.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Frank Kelly says on August 8th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Dupes or deliberate?
8. Who can I thank today?
16. Who should I thank today?
There are people I should thank but perhaps can’t?
KStone says on August 10th, 2007 at 12:12 am
@Frank - thanks for pointing that out! They are dupes, but maybe that’s good. It’s always good to thank people! Thanks for the comment! And thanks again!
SatVis says on August 10th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
This is a good collection.
Why not divide it into time zones. Eg:- Early morning, before food, before sleeping etc?
What about some for children?
KStone says on August 11th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
@SatVis - what a great idea! Thanks for adding this. I think introducing kids to these questions is a very smart idea too!
Nerissa Pausal says on August 12th, 2007 at 12:33 am
thanks for all those smart questions shared…it really helps me think what will I’m going to be…best regards to all!!!
KStone says on August 12th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
@Nerissa - so glad you found this helpful!!
metropolitan says on August 21st, 2007 at 10:22 am
ahh, an old neuro-linguistic programming trick to get your mind thinking in active concepts instead of statements.
chris0017 says on August 22nd, 2007 at 5:07 am
What am I around right now that is beautiful?
How am I feeling in my toes?
KStone says on August 22nd, 2007 at 2:46 pm
@Metropolitan -thanks for joining in the discussion!
@Chris - those are excellent! :) The toes one is soooo good because so often (especially for women) our feel are actually in a low-grade chronic pain from tight work shoes. Taking them off can make a huge difference in our energy level. (That’s my opinion, anyway!) Thanks!
Honey B says on September 12th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
These are great questions, I love the idea of cutting them up and putting them in a jar to pull out. I *like* the fact that there are a lot of them. I guess I just like options :-)
One question I find myself asking myself a lot is: “Is what I’m going to write/post/say/do right now going to make the world a more positive place or a more negative one?”
I have a tendency to want to be snarky, but I (usually) catch myself in time by asking myself that question.
Thanks for this!
Jennifer Louden says on September 12th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Great post! My last two books have been al about questions especiall the Life Organizer - to me, they are one of our four most powerful life direction/spirit charged/get your mojo on tools. And we ask ourselves questions all the time, only they aren’t very helpful like “Do I look fat in this?” or “Am I worthless piece of carpet lint?” My personal fav questions are “How can I be gentle with myself right now?” and “What do I really want right now?”
chas says on September 12th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
To Frank Kelly and K. Stone,
Who I CAN thank is different than who I SHOULD thank. I CAN thank my mailman for delivering my mail; I SHOULD thank my mother for loving and supporting me.
While I try to avoid “shoulding” myself to death, sometimes there are situations where I don’t think to say thank you or I flat out don’t want to, but it’s the right thing to do.
KStone says on September 13th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
@HoneyB - glad you like the jar idea!
@Jennifer - those are two great questions! Love ‘em. (The last 2 that is….:)
@Chas - good point. All in good time.
jennifer says on February 9th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
When feeling anxious and distressed, I think its always good to bring yourself back to earth by asking: Where am I and what time is it?
Paul says on August 4th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
These “smart questions” are almost exactly what was told by our trainer on a recent leadership training. This is kind of “coaching yourself”…
Manav Shankar says on October 14th, 2008 at 4:42 am
I think i will comment post one month of successfully asking these questions to myself. This is the biggest question, will I be successful in doing so ?
a person says on March 9th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Instead of Joy, you can put Uncle Sam….that makes more sense :DDD