It is easy to look at people who succeed in life and think they must be super lucky. But, more often than not, success has nothing to do with luck. Success is about taking little, deliberate actions-steps day by day, over and over for as long as it takes to reach your goals. If you want to succeed in life and become the A+ student of life you ought to be, you need to start asking yourself enough of the right questions.
Asking the right questions helps you determine if you are headed in the right direction and shaping your life for true happiness. Successful people do it all the time and it helps them make the right decisions and take the right actions that bring desired outcomes. Here are some thought provoking questions you should start asking yourself more often to better understand and adjust your life for a bright and happy life.
1. What’s going well in my life today? Any wins (major or minor) this week?
This is a great place to start because it allows you to be grateful for the positives in your life. A positive energy means you are optimistic and optimism fuels your hunger for more positivity and success in life. Be grateful everyday for everything, including the small things that get overlooked because they seem not related to your ultimate goal in life. At the very least be grateful for good health and good friends.
2. What challenges am I currently facing? Where am I stuck?
Life is not smooth sailing all the time. You will face challenges and get stuck somewhere along the way. Ask yourself where you are stuck and what you have to overcome daily to define the problem and start the process of getting unstuck. The first step for getting a solution to most things in life is often as simple as admitting you have a problem and then thinking about the best approach to overcome the problem.
3. What am I doing right now to improve things? Truly, Am I doing the best I can?
It is critical that you do your best to succeed and improve your life situation. Nothing is quite as satisfying as merited success. If success is not merited, it is not as sweet. Ask yourself if you are really putting in the effort to merit success. This includes investing your time, energy and resources to realize your dreams and visions for the future.
4. Am I further along on my goal(s) and dream(s) today than yesterday?
Only when you make small, steady steps forward day by day can you make progress and reach your dream. If you don’t take stock of your day to day activities, you are likely to lose sight of your ultimate goal and fall by the wayside. Ask yourself this question often and it will help keep you focused and edging closer and closer to your dream.
5. Am I adding value in other people’s lives?
Our happiness and success is usually tied to that of the people around us, including our family, friends, clients, neighbors and community as a whole. When you add value in another person’s life, you achieve a deep sense of satisfaction and pride in yourself and it always brings good fortune. Ask this question in your daily life and find ways to genuinely add value in other people’s lives and you will never regret it. You will only set yourself up for success and true happiness in life.
6. Where should I break the rules?
Rules can stifle creativity and chock innovation. Sometimes you need to break free from the shackles of rules and regulations, stretch your wings and fly with the wind. Ask yourself which rules you should break on a regular basis to stay in sync with your inner creativity and moral compass. That can make the difference between perpetuating the status quo and charting the way to new, big and wonderful accomplishments in life.
7. Based on my daily routines, where can I expect to be in five years?
Your daily routine determines how fast you can reach your goals and dreams. It is a secret ingredient for success. If you find you are stuck in the same place for too long, then it’s time to evaluate you daily routines and change a few things to achieve better results. Experiment different ways of doing things until you find what works for you and stick with it.
8. What is the worst that can happen?
Fear can paralyze even the best of us. That includes fear of the unknown, fear of failure and fear of achieving more than you thought possible. However, in every situation, ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen and prepare for it. Remain hopeful always knowing that while it is important to plan and prepare for the worst, the worst that can happen rarely does.
9. How have past failures and or rejections affected my self-confidence?
You will inevitably face knock-backs, failures and rejections in life. While some people doubt themselves and break under the weight of failure and rejection, others thrive on it. You must be the latter. Failure is only an opportunity to do things better next time. Ask yourself this question routinely to learn from your mistakes and develop character and courage to face your detractors with boldness; and also, to recover from bruised confidences. That is how to get ahead in life.
10. Are the people around me helping or hurting me?
You’ve heard it said many times before that you are the average of the five people you keep around you. That is a true assessment. Ask yourself if the people around you encourage and support you to be the best you can be or put you down. If they discourage and bring you down, remove them from your life immediately. You are better off alone than surrounded by people who hurt and bring you down.
Featured photo credit: I .. C .. U via flickr.com
