Self-Awareness Questions to Ask Yourself

What is self-analysis and self-knowledge

Self-awareness is the foundation of personal growth and success. It is a prerequisite for managing relationships, setting goals, and regulating your emotions.

Self-knowledge is conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives and desires, and its presence is necessary for self-love. Self-knowledge is not just about how you see yourself. It's also about understanding how you treat others. This is the only way you can form an accurate and complete picture of yourself.

Why is this so important?

It is important for every person to conduct such an analysis of himself. If you don't know yourself, you can live a life that doesn't match who you really are. In addition, such self-examination helps you see how other people treat you. (I advise you to read 90 ways to gain respect from people around you).

Embrace your true self and live authentically

Living authentically is not just about doing what you want or achieving what you want. It’s also not about trying to live up to your ideal.

Living authentically means accepting yourself. Learn to take responsibility for your own well-being and take care of yourself. There's nothing narcissistic or selfish about giving yourself the attention you need—self-reflection is key not only to your personal growth, but also to your emotional well-being.

Therefore, it’s time for you to get reacquainted with your best and oldest friend—yourself!

Questions from a psychologist for self-analysis in difficult times

When times are tough, try asking yourself these questions from psychologist Courtney E. Ackerman to calm yourself down. Answering them will help you gain new strength and understand the cause of your worries.

Do I have goals in life? How worthwhile and realistic are they?
What is the most important thing for me now?
Can I be grateful? What are you grateful for to others: colleagues, friends, family?
What do I constantly do out of habit and not get the results I need? How can I change this situation?
What changes in my life do I need to make, but am I afraid of?
Do other people consider me a consistent person or not?
How do I spend most of my time? Do I spend my time on something useful or do I live it aimlessly? Who am I spending it with?
What do I do to keep myself fit and maintain my physical and mental health?
What bad habits have I been able to overcome? Am I proud of it? Which habits do I have more: good or bad?
Am I a procrastinator or not?
When was the last time I felt disappointed or hurt? How did you behave then? Can I change anything in my reaction to disappointment?
Am I a complainer and a whiner by nature or not? How often do I complain about something to others?
Do I have a good sense of humor or not? Are my jokes good or bad? Are they entertaining others or are they insulting?
What is my dream: good or bad? How long do I sleep? Do I think this is enough or not?
Am I an optimist or a pessimist in life?
How often do I overwhelm myself with experiences and fears that may not exist in reality? Do I think more often about good or bad?
Do the people I surround myself with raise my self-esteem or lower it?
Do I live more for myself or others?
Do I know how to ask others for help? How often do I ask for this? What stops me from asking others for help?
How quickly do I respond to requests for help? Who can I help?

In past

The age of 14 years was chosen because, in general, around this age the so-called “birth of the Self,” the formation of reflective self-awareness, occurs.

Questions about the structure of the world - natural and social, research questions:

“Why does action X have result Y?”, “What happens if you do Z?”, “What do animals think and understand?”, “Why doesn’t the long-awaited New Year bring wonderful changes?”, “Why is the joy from what you receive shorter? , than from what was expected?”; “Do aliens exist?”; “Why do people betray?”

Questions about the structure of your own inner world and the reasons for your own behavior:

“Why can’t I stop being late?”

Questions about the structure of the inner world of other people:

“Why is father so strict?”

Questions about the mode of action leading to the desired state/result:

“How can I get an A?”

Questions about the meaning and/or potential usefulness of various elements of life that the person did not choose:

“Why do I need English?”

Questions about whether your wish will come true:

“Will he call or not call?”

Questions about understanding other people:

“How can I tell if he likes me or not?”

Questions about how a person looks in the eyes of others, how he is perceived by them:

“Do I look too approachable?”

Present

We did not ask about the age of the respondents, so we will classify them all into a single category of “adults.”

Questions about ways to change yourself towards conformity with the image of the “ideal self”:

“How to become more (or less) X?”

Questions about the correct course of action:

“How to do X correctly?”

Questions aimed at identifying obstacles to achieving what you want

condition/result:

“What is stopping me from realizing Y?”

Questions aimed at identifying optimal conditions for realizing the desired:

“What does it take to realize Y to an even greater extent?”

Questions about the alternate present:

“How would my life have turned out if I had not made (a) decision Z?”

Questions about the meaning of life:

“Why did I come to this Earth?”

Questions about “generativity” (E. Erikson’s term), making a valuable contribution to the lives of other people, and being in demand:

“How else can I be useful to people?”, “What knowledge, experience and skills might people need?”; “What talents have I not yet discovered?”; “What can I do for the world around me to make it more meaningful, kinder and brighter?”

Questions about productivity and balance:

“How to have more time and not overwhelm yourself?”; “How to deal with chaos and bring at least some order to life?”; “How to combine your projects, interests, family and friends so that no one suffers?”; “What is laziness? Where does it come from and what is it for?

Questions out of curiosity not tied to achieving results:

“Who really built the Egyptian pyramids and how?”; “How do brilliant people feel?”; “Does the sky inspire pilots in the same way as

what about people who don’t fly that often?”; “How is music born in the head of a genius?”; “What did the space pioneers feel?”

Specific questions about the development of your business, about projects:

“What topics are best for blog posts to expand on the topic of the blog?”; “What research question should I ask in my master’s thesis project?”

Specific questions about solving everyday, practical problems:

“Is it worth buying an apartment?”; “Where to go for New Year?”; “Where can I find a snowboard suit for my height?”; “What to do if they don’t give you a visa?”; “How to move to live by the sea?”

Questions about verifying information related to health maintenance techniques, self-development techniques, etc.:

“Can people in the Siberian climate benefit from a raw food diet?”; “Still, is drinking water during meals harmful? Or not?"

Questions about psychological self-development and self-healing, about internal integrity:

“How can you hear your “inner child” more often?”; “How to engage in less self-criticism?”; “Why do I know, but don’t do it?”; “How to stop dividing yourself into body and soul?”

Questions to help you better understand other people and improve your relationships with them:

“Why do some people get “stuck” one day, and they begin to look for the meaning of life, answers to questions, and personal growth, while others never do so?”; “What else can I do for my loved ones to make the relationship even better?”; “How do jazz musicians manage to feel each other so subtly? How can one learn to feel this way?”; “What did my parents dream of when they were young? What are they dreaming about now?

Questions about understanding the structure of the world (economic, political, social):

“Why in the modern world does not everyone have enough food and water?”; “Why is the idea of disbelief in other people, in projects, in success so widespread in Russia?”

Questions about your own path, about current situations of choice:

“If it weren’t for the midlife crisis, would I have started to change my life so radically?”; “How will I understand that the path I have found is my path?”; “How can I turn my interest into a profession?”

Questions about the future that influence “charting the course”:

“How many more active years do I have?”; “How do I see my life in the future?”

Questions about the transpersonal, existential and philosophical that influence ethical decision making:

“Does a person live several lives?”; “How to notice the signs of the Universe on a subtle level?”

It can be seen that adults have many more different types of questions for themselves and the world, and most of these questions are related to self-realization - not only the search for one’s own path, but also the concrete embodiment of what one wants, with the ability to influence one’s own life. Teenagers, for obvious reasons, are less able to influence their lives.

Questions to yourself to understand yourself

Am I trying to escape reality by doing this or that?
How often do I make changes in my life? Can I be called a flexible person or not?
Do I trust my thoughts, feelings and life goals?
How do I cope with stress? Is this method effective or not, is it beneficial or does it cause more harm? (Find out how to get rid of stress and worries yourself).
Who (or what) always lifts my spirits and helps me feel positive?
Do I enjoy spending time with other people or do I prefer being alone?
What moment in my life was a turning point for me? What changed me?
Do I have a sense of style? Do I know how to choose clothes that would tell others about my good taste or not?
Am I satisfied with the way I live? Can I honestly tell others that I am living a good life and am satisfied with my life?
Do I always accomplish what I plan, or are there goals on my to-do list that I never complete?
What can throw me off my emotional balance? Can I control my emotions?
How do I deal with life changes? How do I feel when I encounter them?
Can I set boundaries with others? Am I able to do this or not? Am I able to insist on respecting these boundaries, or do other people easily ignore them?
Which qualities of mine do I consider strong and which are my weaknesses? What exactly am I doing to eradicate shortcomings?
Do I always say what’s on my mind or do I know how to restrain and control myself?
Do I drink a lot of alcohol or not? What are others saying about this?
What weaknesses do I have that I would like to eradicate?
Am I able to handle difficult but necessary conversations? How good am I at this?
How open am I with others?
What worries and worries me now? Why?

5 deep questions to ask yourself

How do I feel about myself now?
Do I say “yes” or “no” to others more often?
What is my meaning in life?
What useful and worthwhile things have I done for other people?
How will people remember me?

I recommend reading statuses and quotes about yourself, in which you can find additional questions to analyze yourself

From the reflective responses of the participants:

“[I noticed that I] have questions more often about those moments that I don’t like or that arouse strong interest, surprise, a desire to explain to myself, to understand. And what is good, comfortable, understandable and familiar does not need questions.”

“I noticed that I’m not at all used to “thinking in questions.” I address myself more imperatively (“must”, “do”) or descriptively.”

“I don’t remember my questions at all when I was 14 years old. How did I live? What did you dream about? Is it really nothing...? I remember the main events and only a few questions that I remember. So the list is short.”

“I realized that any step I took towards a new level of development began with questions arising in my head: “Is this really possible?” How is this possible? “And even if this was followed by thoughts that yes, it was possible, but for others, not for me, then over time everything worked out in this direction.”

“The second list contained many questions about the structure of the world and the processes occurring in it. There are no such questions in the “14-year-old” list at all. Apparently, at the age of 14, I thought that I knew much more about the world than I do now.”

“The questions themselves “clean” your head very well. Purer thoughts and more clearly visible values.”

“In general, it was difficult to imagine what questions might have interested me at 14 years old. Although it helps to feel like a child again and try to imagine what questions might have worried me then. Literally after five youthful questions, I began to think: why do I always have the question “Why?”... Later, I analyzed that such questions, already in adulthood, transformed into the question “Why?”. And I found the answer to this question. After all, it was precisely thanks to those difficulties that worried me, alarmed me, and sometimes even exhausted me in my youth, that I became the person I am now, which, in fact, I am proud of. As an adult, my questions generally begin with the word “How” and, as far as I understand, involve certain actions to achieve what you want. While writing and looking through the “adult list”, I noted that at the moment of asking a question, a mental search for ways to solve it immediately occurs. I’ll even say more, in most cases a very specific answer comes. Writing a list of exciting questions helped bring to the surface perhaps unconscious anxieties, concerns, and simply see and acknowledge what interests me now and, thanks to this, consciously focus my attention on what is important to me.”

“While I was writing the questions, I got a lot of ideas for myself for today and for the future. For the exercise:

It turned out that I have questions that are still not answered. It was very interesting and thought-provoking.

There are questions that are already closed, that is, they were there when I was 14, but now they no longer concern me.

When I asked questions, I found myself thinking that I was asking myself questions. And I could give the answers to them myself.

The ideas that arose while I was doing the exercise could relate to completely different topics and areas of life than today. And that was interesting too.

Another revelation was that while I was writing the question, the answer was already beginning to emerge, and I was starting to move in that direction!

Those questions that have worried me so far have helped me to grasp my life at one glance, given some understanding of how I myself developed, and thus, to some extent, predetermined the future.”

“Thank you very much for the opportunity to slow down. Unexpectedly, it was possible to see commonality in the structure of reflection on the questions of 14 and 38 years old. The first group of questions (surprisingly for me today) is addressed in the short term with an uncertain way to resolve them. It was necessary to react according to the place and situation. The second group of questions shouts and screams about the medium and long term. And at the same time, all questions determine completely understandable sequences of actions to find an answer to them.”

Below I will talk a little more about how you can approach analyzing questions for yourself.

Questions for self-analysis and self-knowledge that are needed for personal growth

When you're juggling work, school, family, and a social life, it can be difficult to make time for yourself. But this can lead to professional burnout. So check in with yourself regularly to understand the root of your discomfort and remind yourself of your strengths, values, and goals. St. Augustine's Medical University has compiled questions to ask yourself and answer honestly to yourself.

Weekly questions for self-discovery

What are my three greatest strengths in life?
Did I need my purchases this week or was it just my momentary desire? Do I really know how to save money, am I financially literate?
What is my main goal in life?
Would I move to another country? What could make me emigrate? Do I want this?
What type of personality am I?
Why do I get out of bed every day, go to work and do things that I don't like?
Did I take time for myself this week?
Am I making time for my family?
What excites me most right now?
Where do I find inspiration?
What brings me joy?
When was the last time I lent money to others?
What is most important to me right now?
When am I at my best: morning, afternoon or evening?
What would I like to do more of and why?
What would I like to do less of and why?
What three words would I honestly use to describe myself?
What keeps me up at night?
How important is my physical health to me?
Is my mental health important to me and how much?
What made me happy this week?
Do I control myself when I’m irritated or not?
What obstacles are preventing my happiness?
What does happiness mean to me and what can I do to become happier?
What are my greatest strengths?
What did I learn new and useful this week?
If I could change one decision I made this week, what would it be?
What difficult problems that initially seemed impossible to me were I able to solve this week?

Questions for reflection in school or at the end of the lesson

What do I like about my classes?
What do I dislike most about the lessons?
What tasks am I putting off until later?
What annoys me in class at school?
What is my greatest achievement in school?
What is my biggest challenge at school right now?
To overcome these difficulties, what should and do I do?
What motivates me to go to school?
Do I participate in school activities?
Do I feel jealous of my classmates? (Read quotes and statuses about envy that help you understand how bad this feeling is).
How can I relieve stress at school?
What distracts me most from doing my homework?
Do I like self-learning to learn something new or not? How often do I educate myself?
What activities or lessons bring me the most joy?
What do I like to do in class, even when I'm tired?

Career and work

What's positive about my job?
What career would I consider giving up? What's included in an ideal career?
What about my job causes stress?
What is the biggest risk I would take, job-wise or career-wise?
What is my greatest achievement at work?
Do I feel satisfied at work?
Am I experiencing difficulties at work?
Would I trust myself or not with some responsible business if I were my boss?
Have I made any mistakes at work lately? What did they teach me?
What inspires me in my work?
What kind of work would I do for free?
Can I stand up for myself at work?
Am I confident that I am seen and heard at work?
What skills do I need to improve?
How much trust do I have at work and what responsibilities can I be trusted with?
How do I define work-life balance?
If I didn't get paid, would I still enjoy my job?
Do I try to drown out the stress at work with alcohol or other substances? Do I like it myself or not?

Family

Where is the best place to go if I need advice?
How do I feel in family life?
What makes me most happy about my family?
Who in the family drains my energy?
Did a family member make me smile this week or not? Why?
Am I offended by someone in my family? If so, why?
What is my favorite memory of my relatives?
Do I listen to my family more than myself?
What am I grateful to God for regarding my family? (Read quotes and sayings about God that will strengthen your faith in him.)
Who in my family or relatives do I admire most?
If a relationship or job makes me unhappy, will I decide to stay or leave?
What am I most afraid of leaving a job or relationship that makes me unhappy?
When was the last time I really gave my wife (husband) attention and time?
Are my deeds and actions in relation to my family based on a sense of duty or love?
What positive qualities does my marriage partner note in me?
Am I having thoughts about cheating on my marriage partner? If there were no consequences for cheating, would you cheat or not?
What would I advise my children to do or not to do?
Am I like my parents in habits or qualities?
Do I consider intimate relationships with my wife (husband) ideal?
Am I happy with my family relationships? What can I do on my part to strengthen the relationship?
What was the best thing about my family relationships, and what would I like to forget forever?
How do I feel about my parents?

Friends and friendship

How would my friends honestly describe me? What kind of person do they see me as?
Can I truly be friends? Is it easy for me to renounce friendship if I quarrel with my friends? When was the last time you made a new friend?
Is there something about my friends that annoys me? How do I react to these irritants?
What kind of friend do I want to be?

Advantages and disadvantages

6. What are your strengths?

Determine what your strengths are and how you are going to use them to your advantage.

7. What are your weaknesses?

Recognize your own weaknesses, and then you will be able to fight them, and maybe even defeat them.

8. What makes you different from everyone else?

Recognize your differences and make them your own unique strengths.

9. Are you ready to compete?

Determine what is closer to you, competition or cooperation, and choose the form that will achieve the best results.

Questions for self-analysis for every day

Do I respect and love myself or do I treat myself with disdain?
What makes me really feel alive? When was the last time I had this feeling?
What is my favorite compliment to receive and why?
If I had enough time to do everything, what would I do first?
What is the source of my heartache? What needs to happen for my wounds to heal?
Have I become a “slave” to technology and gadgets?
Do I know how to truly forgive others and forget grievances or not? If I have the opportunity to take revenge on the offender, will I take revenge or not?
What do I prefer: morning, afternoon or night and why?
Do I believe that anyone can truly change if they want to?
What would I like to do in life?
What type of people am I attracted to?
Who do I always want to talk to when I'm upset about something?
How often do I procrastinate?
What would make me happy right now?
What successes have I achieved/achieved to date?
What can I do to take better care of myself?
How do I feel about growing old one day? Am I afraid of old age or not?
Am I 100% sure that I make decisions on my own?
What is most important to me in life, career, money, family, love, knowledge?
Do I finish the things I start or not?
What does achieving my goals mean to me? Why are they worth fighting for?
Can anything stop me from achieving my goals? How am I determined to deal with these interferences?
Am I changing for the better or for the worse, what do people say?
When do you most often say “I can’t”? Is this actually true or not?
When was the last time I forcefully did something I didn’t like and it annoyed me? Why did I do this?

Conclusion

How can you use these questions to improve your self-knowledge?

Take your time! It will take time to find the answer. We are in the process of exploring ourselves and therefore there is no need to rush.
Some of these questions will be difficult to answer at first. Some of them will affect our pride or be painful. But they will help us gain insight into ourselves.
There is no right answer. The main thing is to be honest with yourself. The real work of introspection and learning occurs when you learn to see yourself as you really are. Only then will you learn to hear and listen to yourself.
Remind yourself of these self-discovery questions from time to time. Over time, experience and knowledge will help you see things differently. And every time you will discover something new about yourself.
Ask someone who knows you well to answer these questions from your point of view. This is a great way to bridge the gap between how you see yourself and how others see you.
Use these self-reflection questions as prompts as you write your autobiography or fill out your social media profiles.

Do you find these self-discovery questions helpful to you? What question got you thinking? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Source
positivepsychology.comusa.edu

Results of our experiment

First of all, I would like to thank those who sent responses to this task: Lyudmila Kazantseva, Rigina Arakelova, Yana Ruleva, Alexey Luchnikov, Violetta Novik, Ekaterina Golovanova, Erkin Aliyev, Denis Parinov, Sergey Osipov, Vadim Khurin.

Below is a short summary of the different types of questions that participants provided examples of in their reports. If you have your own lists on hand, you can compare what types of questions you have. Perhaps you have some questions related to other types.

Where do you use questions to yourself?

In psychotherapy, during coaching sessions, during interviews. Coaching questions to yourself allow you to clearly define your goal and missing skills. Psychological questions to yourself will help reveal the main problems with self-esteem, resentment, and relationships with loved ones.

Questions to yourself