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We all want to be more successful in life. We read books, listen to podcasts, really anything that we think might give us an edge. But I wonder how many people question themselves? Not in the sense of doubting their abilities or the decisions they have made, but rather asking yourself the right questions so that you can achieve greater success. My guess is that many people overlook this important habit. In this post, I am going to walk you through 5 questions you need to start asking yourself and why it is important to do so.
The 5 Questions To Ask Yourself For Success
#1: Am I In The Right Field?
No one wants to wake up 10 years from now realizing they are working in a career they dislike. Many people go to jobs they dislike thinking it is something else – the company, the co-workers, etc. – when in reality it is the field in general.
If you want to be happy, you have to do something you enjoy. And when you are happy, you increase your odds of success. So take some time and answer this question. You have to be brutally honest with yourself and admit it if you are in the wrong field. Don’t feel embarrassed if the answer is no. Look on the positive side of things and realize that the sooner you realize this and make a change, the sooner you will be able to start doing something you enjoy.
#2: Am I Learning From My Mistakes?
I’ve talked about the importance of failing before. You can’t fear failure. You have to be able to accept it and learn from it. The most successful people do this all of the time. Think about it, they fail just like we do. They are not immune to it. So how do they continue to succeed? They learn from their mistakes.
They take the time to review why they failed and what they can do different in the future so that the mistake doesn’t happen again. This is the easy part. The hard part is being comfortable with yourself to fail in the first place. Too many of us don’t strive for more because of the fear of failure. Learn to look at failure as a growing opportunity and not a setback.
#3: Am I Pushing Myself?
No matter what you are doing in life or where you are, you always have to push yourself for more. Otherwise, you are going to get bored or worse, someone who is pushing themselves is going to blow right past you.
This happened to me in a job after college. There was an opening for a team lead position at my company. I was always getting great reviews and being talked about as a star employee. I let it get to my head and slacked off. I didn’t do more, thinking I was set for the promotion. It turns out though, that not pushing myself cost me the job. Someone else got the job because they were doing more, not sitting back like I was.
Another example is lifting weights. You hear all of the time how you have to change up your routine. The human body adapts really quickly. If you keep doing the same exercises, the same number of reps and the same intensity, you will eventually stop seeing any progress. You have to keep pushing and lifting more weight or doing more reps or sets to grow.
#4: What Is My Game Plan?
Not everyone is a planner by nature. But successful people tend to plan more often than not. They have set goals in mind and they map out a plan to achieve those goals. This is how they are so successful.
Now when it comes to planning, understand nothing is set in stone. You can make changes along the way. The key though is that you outline your goals and set a plan for reaching them.
If you are new to planning, don’t sweat it. Start off small and build from there. Many times we have this grand goal in mind but don’t achieve it because we get overwhelmed. By keeping the steps small in nature, you increase the odds of reaching your goals.
#5: Do I Believe In Myself?
This is the biggest one of all. You have to believe in yourself. If you don’t, then you will most likely fail. Learn to build your self-confidence and become a better person. It’s only when you believe in yourself and your abilities that you will be able to start experiencing success.
Think back to leaders you’ve had. You could probably spot the ones who doubted themselves easily. I know I could. It made it a lot harder to trust them and push through to reach goals simply because their self-doubt made everyone else have doubts as well. If you want to lead or be successful, you have to have self-confidence.
Final Thoughts
To become successful, you have to start asking yourself these 5 questions. Understand that you can’t just ask these questions to yourself once and be done with it. They are an ongoing set of questions. Some you can get away with asking yourself less often than others, but I wouldn’t go more than 6 months without taking the time to reflect and see how you answer them. The more you do, the greater the success you will experience.
Jon Dulin is the passionate leader of Unfinished Success, a personal development website that inspires people to take control of their own lives and reach their full potential. His commitment to helping others achieve greatness shines through in everything he does. He’s an unstoppable force with lots of wisdom, creativity, and enthusiasm – all focused on helping others build a better future. Jon enjoys writing articles about productivity, goal setting, self-development, and mindset. He also uses quotes and affirmations to help motivate and inspire himself. You can learn more about him on his About page.
Great post. it is always a great idea to revisit your plan in order to make sure you are heading in the right direction but also to find out if you need to make changes.
Thanks for another great post.