Your questions determine the quality of your answers. They determine the quality of your day. A good question will get you a lot farther than a quick answer.
3 Powerful Questions To Start Your Day
Start your day with focus and energy by taking a few moments to answer these questions.
1. What will give me joy today?
2. What am I excited about accomplishing today?
3. Who needs my help today?
3 Powerful Questions to End Your Day
Your day will take on greater meaning and will end on a better note if you take a few moments to answer these questions before you go to sleep.
1. What am I proud of?
2. Who do I love?
3. What am I grateful for?
About Powerful Questions
Try these questions, see how they work, and find the questions that work best for you. Consider open-ended questions, rather than questions that have only one right answer or that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” The most powerful questions are those that expand your thinking.
Jesse, Thanks for the thought provoking article. I would add the following question to my “Powerful Evening Questions List”: Did I really achieved/accomplished what I set out to do in the morning?
That’s a nice link back to the morning question. You might want to consider modifying it slightly so it’s more open-ended, such as “What did I accomplish relative to what I intended?”
Thank you for the reply. Perfect! Have a good day!
“What am I grateful for” is a great question for when you have a off day. It is pretty hard to stay in a bad mood when you start answering this question.
Thank you for the encouraging post!
I agree Josh. If you’re only going to ask one question, that’s the one to ask.
Jesse, those morning questions could be powerful end-of-day questions by replacing the word “today” with “tomorrow.” Think I’ll give them a try tonight.
Wonderful! Please check back in to let us know how it went!
Slept very well, Jesse. Woke up ready and eager.
Great to hear that John. We get so caught in the details of our lives that we lose touch with what’s greater. The point of the questions is to open that space. – the space where we are more creative, powerful and relaxed. I think the most powerful questions are those that resonate with your own life. Glad you found yours!
Great questions Jesse. Even more important however is the very suggestion that we take time at the beginning of the day and at day’s end to pause and reflect. I often ask myself as I get ready for bed – “Was I my best self today?”. The anwser is usually no…and I give consideration to some situation I feel that I could have improved upon. I force myself to find at least one point where I “did good”. Going to give these other questions a try. Thank you!
Indeed. There is a tremendous value to take time to reflect on your day. I appreciate your question about your best self. I would suggest opening it up a little such as “In what ways was I my best self today?” This is a powerful question and needs to be considered with a lot of self-compassion so you don’t set yourself up to be attacked by your inner critic. Thanks for adding to the conversation, Duane.
Ohh Powerful Questions Jesse!
Number 3 of your evening questions is my favorite – Because I believe that a lack of thankfulness is the root of all darkness in our minds and in our world.
Thankfulness keeps us humble. …And shines light into our biggest challenges and our darkest thoughts. …Giving us the ability to move forward.
How have these daily questions transformed your life?
I’m with you, Chery. I have learned that gratitude is the doorway to joy and love.
Good questions, perhaps morning questions answered by evening questions. For example,
AM – What will I make of today? PM – What did I make of today?
AM – How will I give today my best self? PM – How did I give my best self today?
AM – What return can I make today to give back? PM – What did I give back today?
Simple, direct, obivous.
Enjoy!
Great questions, Gary. Thanks for sharing them. I especially like the questions about what can I/ did I give back today.
Hi Jesse,
What I always do before I go to sleep is to walk through my day, in my head, and express my gratitude for all the nice things that happened but also for the problems I faced as they give me an opportunity to grow.
After that I think ahead of how I can use all I have learnt to implement in the next day. Sometimes hard as I might fall asleep doing so but how bad is that 😉
Regards,
Michael
I love the thought of expressing gratitude for your problems. Thanks for sharing your process, Michael.
How does the gratitude afirmation work better, by writing them down or repeating to ourselves the reasons we are grateful for on a daily basis?
It’s very helpful when you write them down in a journal. Forming the words helps focus your thoughts and it’s nice to be able to read what you’ve written in the past. But it’s fine if you don’t do that. Simply reflecting on the questions and seeing what arises in your mind can be quite powerful.