5 Extremely Revealing Self-Reflection Questions Crucial for Personal Growth

One of my biggest flaws is thinking to myself:
“I’ll get to it later.”
I say something like, “You should write an article about compassion today,” then consider the day ahead, and think, Yeah that sounds great—but for later.
Sometimes I’m really convincing, and give myself a reason why later is better. I think, You have that email marketing project to finish, and could do a bit of reading—it only makes sense to write later on. Honestly, it’s probably your best move.
I hate to admit it, but it’s just an excuse in disguise.
Nearly every time I say, “I’ll get to it later,” I never do.
I push later further and further back in my day, until the day is over and tell myself that I’ll ‘get to it right’ when I wake up.
I’ve been trying to get to the root of the problem.
I wasn’t always so lenient with myself. Sure everyone makes excuses, but I always prided myself in getting my sh*t done. I never wanted to be associated with excuse-makers, and rarely committed to something I wouldn’t be able to follow through on. And if I did, I’d be damn sure to make it a top priority.
Yet lately, I’ve allowed myself a bit more leeway.
In realizing this difference in habit, I applied a method of introspection that one of my mentors, Nicolas Cole, taught me:
I gave myself time to reflect.
Nothing crazy—I didn’t go on a weekend retreat without electronics into some remote wilderness, or close myself off from the outside world. I just woke up one morning with a plan to reflect before doing anything else, and blocked out part of my morning to make sure I actually followed through.
Here’s what I learned:
Usually at this time of year, I would have trouble walking.
My body would ache with every step that only the temporary paralysis of a full-body, up-to-neck submersion into a bath of ice could soothe. I would be exhausted beyond belief, and not even wanting to think about classes…
You see, this is my first September in 14 years I haven’t played football. I finished my final season—and my career—last year, as a senior in college.
Even thought I have a full-time job at a fast-paced startup, I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with.
I’m used to being a full-time student and a full-time athlete. I’m used to freelancing on top of those things. I’m used to working on side-projects with friends while handling social life, family life, relationship life, student life, and athlete life all at once.
The sudden halt has been a bit of a shock to my system.
Without a fully-booked schedule, I procrastinate. I feel that I have more than enough time in the day to do whatever it is I have to do for work, and accept my offer to, “do it later.”
And when later comes, I remind myself that I don’t have any studying to do, or any practices to be at, so tomorrow works just fine.
I would have never figured that out without taking time to reflect.
If something’s “off” about your life, or you don’t feel like your ‘normal’ self for whatever reason, try reflecting.
Even if you feel great and don’t want to question how or why your life is going right now, you should take some time to reflect.
It’s always productive to consider our present state, how it makes us feel, and what—if anything—we should do to promote change. The best way to do that is reflection.
Here are 5 revealing questions you can ask to learn from self-reflection:
What don’t I like about my life?
- Be honest here. If it’s your job, say your job. If a friend did something to annoy you, then call it how it is. Don’t beat around the bush, or you’ll never fix the problem.
What’s going well?
- We always forget to consider the positives happening in our lives. It’s in our nature to question the negatives and leave the positives as-is—hence, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. But it’s vital we consider what’s going well in our lives, make a mental note of how we feel, and use that as a motivator when things aren’t going your way to get back on track.
What has changed?
- Change happens more often than we think it does. But due to the monotony of everyday life, and the normalcy of micro-managing our daily routines, we hardly see change when it occurs. When reflecting, always try to consider changes that have taken place in the past year, months, weeks, or even few days and determine how those changes have affected you.
Am I in control?
- As humans, we hate being out of control—it’s the same reason why people are afraid of flying way more than they’re afraid of driving a car. To us control is everything, and if you feel like you’ve lost sense of control, it’s going to start affecting your daily routine.
Why?
- Probably the scariest question we can ask ourselves — mainly because of it’s revealing powers. If we want to get to the root of any issue, any feeling (positive or negative), any decision we make, we need to ask, why. It’s a pivotal part of the reflection process, as it keeps our honesty.
The only reason I was able to recognize my procrastination problem was through reflection, regardless of how painfully obvious recent changes have been in my life. Whether you’re unsatisfied with your life or the happiest you’ve ever been, try reflecting to find the root cause.
After all, personal growth isn’t possible without reflection.

