Without reflection, we go blindly our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. —Margaret J. Wheatley
Years ago when I was at a conference, a speaker by the name of Coach Mike Swider spoke on self-audits.
He talked about how he took time to take an annual self-audit and how self-reflecting helped him to become a better person and leader and how it strengthened his relationships.
What’s a self-audit?
A self-audit is asking yourself the hard questions. And the important most thing Coach Swider emphasized? He said to ask ourselves some hard questions and to be ready to face the answers.
I went home and practiced doing self-audits quite often. And I’ve learned a lot. For instance:
Life is a little easier when you're honest with yourself. Click To TweetMy identity has grown to become stronger too.
Other results? My confidence in the decisions I make don’t feel like I’m adding stress to my life.
And ever since doing these self-audits, I’ve learned that it’s a great practice to do often to keep myself in check.
Today, I want to help you with some self-audit questions that you can use in specific areas you’re struggling with or you can apply it to your life as a whole.
These are hard questions I’ve used for myself and have asked others to help them with their journeys. Note that it’s okay if you don’t know the answer right away. Hard questions such as these require time to reflect and sometimes, need outside feedback from those closest to you.
- What does success mean/look like to me?
- Taking away career titles and the roles I play (spouse, parent, family member, friend, etc.), who am I and am I being my 100% true self?
- What isn’t working well at the moment?
- If I’m not doing _____ like I know I’m supposed to, what am I afraid of?
- Am I afraid of failure or success or both?
- What is my purpose?
- What are my gifts? What’s one thing I can do better than anyone else?
- Am I people driven or results driven?
- What would be rock bottom for me?
- What one thing should I do more? Or one thing I should do less?
I know that some of these questions are deep and personal. However, it’s questions you need to ask yourself and know the answers to understand who you are.
To gain a sense of self-awareness and learn how to connect with others on a deeper level, you have to ask the hard questions.
Hard questions such as these help you to help yourself so you can cultivate meaningful relationships and help others. The side effect is success.
Tell me, what’s one hard question above that got you thinking?
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