When you feel stuck and confused about what to do in life, a good place to start is to get to know yourself better. It’s easy to get so caught up in the cycle of chasing goals, smashing them and chasing the next goal that you lose sight of who you are and what you really want. Ready to get back in touch with who you really are? Ask yourself the following questions – they’re guaranteed to help you get to know yourself better.
How to do this exercise
Find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. You’ll need a pen and a piece of paper because you’ll need to write down your answers rather than just say them in your mind. Writing down your answers is important because once you’ve identified the answers to the upcoming questions, you’ll use them to move your life in the direction you want it to go in.
These questions have been designed to help you get to know yourself. They will reveal your true desires and purpose in life. Once you understand yourself and what you want, you can make decisions from a place of power and clarity… and most importantly, you can use your new-found knowledge to determine if the life decisions you’re currently making are moving you towards or away from the life you want – allowing you to course correct as needed.
15 questions to help you get to know yourself better
1. What’s your biggest regret in life?
2. What habit would you like to break?
3. What do you wish you were better at?
4. If you had seven days to live, what would you do in that time?
5. How would you like to be remembered when you’re no longer alive?
6. What single experience would you choose to have if you had just a few hours to live?
The answers you have given to these questions highlight the things you need to address in your life. They’re probably things you’re well aware of but have been ignoring for a while because they feel too big to tackle. However, these are the things that really matter to you. Don’t ignore them.
Take time to answer these questions honestly. Write down your answers and then reflect on them.
7. Who do you admire most in life?
8. If you could write a newspaper opinion piece about any topic, what would it be?
9. What are you most proud of?
10. What do you rant about when given the chance?
11. What’s the first thing you would change if you were in charge of the world?
The answers to the questions in this section reveal your passion(s). They reflect your values and the inherent principles that guide you as a person. Staying true to these values will give you a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction, while living a lifestyle that jars with these values is likely to leave you feel unsettled and purposeless.
When it comes to figuring your best next step, don’t overthink things. The answers you need are already within you. All you have to do is draw them out.
12. What feels like ‘common sense’ to you, but others seem to struggle with?
13. What do your friends and family often ask for your help with?
14. What activity is so easy, you could do it with your eyes closed?
15. What activity makes time fly for you?
In case you haven’t guessed yet, this section is all about unearthing your talents. We often overlook the things that come to us naturally and get hung up on what we can’t do. With this in mind, take a moment to look at your answers. They reveal the things you’re good or great at. And most importantly, even though you may downplay these talents, they hold big clues about what to do with your life.
Remember: the key to finding purposeful work is to choose something you enjoy, something you’re good at and something you believe makes a difference in the world.
So now what?
You wanted to get to know yourself better, and now you do.
The next step is to take action. These 15 questions should have increased your awareness of the things that really matter to you in life. It’s now up to you to get to work.
If you’re not sure where to begin, start with this article on what to do when you feel lost and confused in life. It outlines four key steps you must take to break free from confusion and ‘stuckness’ today.
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