A list of powerful questions for yourself to find out who you are.
"To know yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." This is a quote by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. It rings true in so many ways because self-knowledge increases self-awareness, which expands your worldview.
If you want to become more aware of yourself, you have to do some self-inquiry. Self-inquiry is about self-reflection and self-introspection on your past, present, and future life.
Self-inquiry is also about knowing the right questions to ask yourself, especially if this is new to you. The questions that you ask yourself become a sort of guide on your path to discovering who you are.
Learn what it means to embark on a journey of self-discovery, how to ask the right questions about yourself, and a list of powerful questions to ask yourself to increase self-awareness.
CONTENTS
What does self-inquiry mean?
How to ask yourself the right questions?
71 questions to ask yourself to become self-aware?
The importance of self-inquiry.
Tools for self-inquiry and self-discovery.
More ways to ask yourself questions and increase self-awareness.
Recommended books to know yourself better and increase self-awareness.
Articles to help with self-inquiry.
Final thoughts.
What does self-inquiry mean?
Do you remember the game of 20 questions? If not, it was a game that allowed a person to get to know someone else on a deeper level.
Self-inquiry is sort of like 20 questions. Except the person that you're getting to know is yourself. The questions that you're asking are pertaining to you and they can be limitless.
If self-inquiry is about questioning yourself, then how would one begin, and what type of questions would you ask yourself?
How to ask yourself the right questions.
Self-inquiry starts with asking yourself the right questions. If you want to ask yourself the right questions, you need to know what your intentions are.
Knowing your intentions means knowing your dreams, wishes, and desires. It opens the way for the right questions to surface so you can increase self-awareness.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to find out what your intentions are:
- Do I want to know what I like or dislike?
- Do I want to learn more about my personality?
- Do I have a deep desire to discover what my purpose in life is?
- Do I want to know what my future career will be?
Once you know what your intentions are, the questions that you want to ask of yourself and your path to self-awareness will be more clear.
71 questions to ask yourself to become more self-aware.
Here is a list of 71 questions to ask yourself to become more self-aware. Some of these questions are easier to answer than others, depending on where you are at in your life. Some of the questions will resonate more with you than others.
You don't have to answer all the questions in one sitting (though it will get you answers quicker). Take your time so you can really ponder the answers and enjoy the process of self-discovery.
When you're done, you can look back at your answers and save them as a fun way to look back at your responses.
- What do I excel at?
- Where can I improve my life?
- What is my dream car?
- Where is my ideal place to live?
- What are my priorities?
- What uplifts me?
- What drains my energy?
- Who do I admire?
- What makes me happy?
- What do I do to stay healthy?
- What am I grateful for?
- If I could have any job in the world, what would it be?
- What stresses me out?
- What makes me feel relaxed?
- What are my core beliefs?
- What are my values?
- What is my purpose in life?
- Who is in my innermost circle?
- Who do I trust most in the world?
- Who are the most important people in my life?
- What makes me feel joyful?
- What makes me smile?
- What would my ideal day look like?
- What would my ideal life look like?
- What do I stand for?
- What is my mission in life?
- If there is something I could do even if I wasn't paid for it, what would it be?
- What are my favorite activities?
- If you could treat yourself to something right now, what would it be?
- What don't I like doing?
- If my fairy godmother could grant me any wish, what would that be?
- When do I feel most alive?
- What makes me feel fulfilled?
- What keeps me from going after what I want in life?
- Where do I see myself in 6 months?
- If I could turn back time, what would I change?
- Where would my ideal vacation place be?
- If I could give my 8-year-old self a piece of advice, what would it be?
- What would my 8-year-old self say to me right now?
- What have I done in my life that made me feel successful?
- If I was in perfect health, what would I do right now?
- What about my inner life would I change?
- What would I like to be remembered for?
- What can I contribute to the world?
- If I won the lottery, what would I do with my winnings?
- What do I have to do to get moving with my life?
- What are my fears?
- What do I hope to accomplish someday?
- What would I want others to say about me?
- If I had only 5 minutes to save my belongings, what would I grab?
- If today was my last day on Earth, what would I do?
- What is stopping me from living the life I want?
- How would I spend just one day for myself?
- How would I sum up my life up to this point in one paragraph?
- If someone were to pay for your next adventure, what would it be?
- What patterns in your life do you keep repeating?
- What was the most challenging moment of your life?
- What is the most important lesson you learned in your life?
- What area of your life have you neglected?
- What period of your life would you say you felt most like yourself?
- As a child, my fondest memories were:
- As a child, my least favorite memories were:
- Describe 3 ways you are most like your parents or the people who raised you.
- Describe 3 ways that you are different from the people who raised you.
- If you had the time, what is it that makes life feel like playtime.
- What qualities about you are similar to your significant other?
- What qualities do you share with your significant other?
- What was the last thing you did that made you terrified but fulfilled?
- What would you need to do to reach your maximum potential?
- If the Earth were to disappear in 6 months, what would you plan for yourself?
- Go back and look at all your answers. What step will you take next in your life?
"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep, you will find something golden." - Gift Gugu Mona
The importance of self-inquiry.
Was there ever a time in your life that you wished someone gave you a guide on how to live because every time you think about how lost you feel, your head starts to spin?
I know this feeling because I felt this way at a certain point in my life. For most of my life, I didn't question if my upbringing or society influenced my decisions.
If I had questioned why I chose my path in life early on, I might have taken a different road in life. This is why self-inquiry is so important.
Self-inquiry is a powerful way to increase self-awareness, thus allowing you to live from a place of authenticity, heart-centeredness, and fulfillment.
It gives you a chance to examine your life and all the decisions that led you to where you are right now. It opens up a pandora's box of possibilities of how you want to live your life from this point onward.
"The only questions that really matter are the ones you ask yourself." - Ursula K. Le Guin
Tools for self-inquiry and self-discovery.
Here are some tools to help you ask the right questions about yourself to increase your self-awareness.
Self-tests.
Self-tests help you figure out your thought processes, behavior, tastes, skills, health, strengths, weaknesses, IQ, and much more.
There are so many types and categories in existence, that you can pick and choose the ones that resonate with you or pertain to your needs.
For example, if you want to find out the best career for your personality, you take a test that will match your personality with your dream job.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a collection of self-reported questions that was created by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.
It assigns a personality type to an individual, based on Carl Jung's 16 Personality or Psychological Types.
The MBTI is more like a tool to discover your personality rather than a measure of your character, trait, or ability.
Self-assessment.
Self-assessment is gathering information about yourself by questioning what your values, beliefs, aptitudes, etc. are. A self-assessment is not a test, but a gathering of information and data of yourself.
There are a multitude of ways to assess yourself, like Health Risk Assessments, Life Satisfaction Assessments, and Career Assessment Tools. I'll give just one example here, which is the Wheel of Life Assessment tool.
There are different versions of this type of assessment tool, but it basically assesses the main categories of your life and gives you a picture of your life as a whole. It sheds light on the areas that need attention and the ones that are being fulfilled.
More ways to ask yourself questions and increase self-awareness.
Journaling to ask yourself questions.
A journal is a great tool to help you ask questions about yourself and increase your self-awareness. You can start using it right away and jot down any questions that come to mind.
It doesn't have to be structured in any particular way, as long as you are able to write your questions down. You write your questions as quickly or slowly as you want to.
You can ask yourself just one question every day to get to know yourself better. Or you can do a brain dump of questions, where you write down all the questions that come to mind until you can't think of any more.
The beauty of this method is, it keeps a record of all your questions, you can start & stop at any time, and you can keep track of your progress.
Check your VITALS.
Checking your VITALS, or your values, interests, temperament, around-the-clock, life purpose, and goals, is a great way to increase your self-awareness and self-knowledge.
Knowing your VITALS is significant because it can help you not only ask questions of yourself, but gives you a better understanding of your personality, behavior, and thoughts, characteristics, and traits.
Ask others.
One way to increase self-awareness and self-knowledge is to ask other people. Other people can give you an unbiased perspective of yourself and shed light on your personality that you may not have been aware of.
Sometimes it's hard to see ourselves for who we truly are because we might be afraid to be honest and open with ourselves. This method comes with a caveat, however.
Although other people may be more honest with you than you can be with yourself, you might not like what they say about you. So the best thing when it comes to asking others about yourself is to be willing and open to receive feedback.
Identify your core beliefs.
Your core beliefs shape your personality, behavior, values, thoughts, and traits. It's important to identify what they are if you want to learn more about yourself.
Here are some examples:
- My skills are not up to par.
- I am good enough.
- I make people laugh and smile.
- Bad things always happen to me.
- Maybe I'm too old for this.
- I am loveable.
Use your core beliefs to form questions about yourself to give you more clarity on how you live your life and how you want to shape it in the future.
Identify your values.
Your values are formed by your beliefs, experiences, parents, culture, environment, religion, and society. Like your beliefs, your values help shape your behavior and personality.
Even if you don't know what your value is right now, it might be lying just below the surface of your consciousness. Your values in life provide the foundation for the decisions and actions you make in life.
It provides the basis for your purpose, goals, and plans for how you want to live your life. This is why it's important to go deep and uncover your values so you can make the process of self-inquiry and self-discovery much more clear.
Discover your purpose in life.
Your purpose in life is the reason why you got up this morning and the reason why you were put on this planet. It acts as your inner compass to guide you back to yourself when you feel lost.
You can discover your purpose in life by identifying your core beliefs and values. Then you can come up with your own questions to ask yourself to help you find your purpose in life:
Here are some examples:
- What are my strengths?
- What are my skills?
- What is my dream job?
- What makes me happy?
Practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness is being aware of what is going on in your inner and outer world in the present moment. Even though the practice is simple, it takes time and continuous effort before you notice its effects.
When you are mindful and present, you have more clarity & awareness of what's going on in your life, which is helpful when you need to ask questions about yourself.
Remember that mindfulness is not about perfection but about giving yourself space and presence.
Meditation.
Meditation can be a powerful tool to help you form questions about yourself and increase self-awareness. There are many forms of meditation, such as:
- Mindfulness meditation.
- Sitting meditation.
- Walking meditation.
- Eating meditation.
Although it's the standard, you don't have to sit quietly to meditate. In fact, some people find this type of meditation unnerving.
You can move around and walk instead to help ground yourself. Or you can practice mindful meditation while eating, driving, or doing your chores.
"Self-discovery is a journey of questioning yourself." - Archibald Marwizi
Recommended books to know yourself better and increase self-awareness.
This post contains affiliate links. I will earn an affiliate commission, at zero cost to you, if you click through a link and finalize a purchase. Thanks for your support. Read full disclaimer here.
This little book is jam-packed with questions for self-reflection and self-discovery. You can use it as a journal or alongside a separate journal if you don't want to write on the pages.
This book was first published in 1970 and is a definitive guide for helping you know yourself better for the career-minded. It is packed with powerful questions to ask yourself and much more!
Final thoughts.
"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates
It's hard to live a life with meaning and purpose without knowing yourself and finding out what makes you tick. Sure, you can go through your life without questioning yourself, but it's like looking at the tip of an iceberg.
You can't really see the whole picture. If you want to know yourself better, you need to start asking questions about yourself because it increases your self-awareness.
Self-awareness gives you a greater understanding of your personality, how you behave, and the way you think. It creates an opportunity for you to live your life with more intention, meaning, happiness, kindness, and compassion.
