Questions That Make A Difference: The Daily Question Process

I would like to share a process that I use almost every day. It is incredibly practical and efficient! I find that it does a wonderful job of keeping what is most important to me ‘in my head’. I am amazed at how well it works!

Every day I challenge myself by answering 32 questions that represent behavior that I know is important, but is often easy to neglect. There is nothing magical about ‘32’. Just use the number that works for you.

Each question is put on an Excel spreadsheet and is answered with a ‘yes’ (use a 1 on the spreadsheet) and ‘no’ (use a 0) or a number. This exercise moves very quickly!

In my case, I pay a person to call me every day. She just listens to me read my questions and provide my answers.

One person asked me, “Why do pay someone to call you every day, just to listen to you read questions that you wrote and provide answers that you wrote. Don’t you know the theory about how to change behavior?”

I replied, “I wrote the theory. That’s why I pay someone to call me. I know how difficult this is to do one my own.”

By way of example, I will share some of the questions that I use for myself. Please remember my questions reflect my values, and might not work for you.

I now begin with six ‘active questions’ that have been proven (in my research involving over 2,500 people) to lead to higher satisfaction with life. You will note that each…