Questions For Self-Improvement

Resolutions don't work all by themselves.

As we retrospect at 2020 it’s helpful to ask a few questions.

What went well? What could be improved? What will I do about it?

These are the questions I like to ask after every project, but they’re just as useful in my personal life.

When we make time for retrospection and introspection, we afford ourselves the chance to improve.

Aside from looking back at the past, it’s helpful to introspect, too.

What are some areas that I’ve developed and improved? What are some areas that could still use work? This is a renewed chance to find patterns in our own thinking and behavior that are either giving us momentum or slowing us down.

This time of year is accepted as a time of reflection and resolution so it’s easier to have these thoughts on our minds. No, of course you don’t need permission to make a change. No, of course you don’t need to reflect once a year (I do it ~ every quarter year).

But the new year is just a convenient time to remember to take action, even if you’ve messed up a lot.

What’s not helpful, though, is just making a list of new resolutions without considering what you’ve failed at (and why) in the past. If you fail to get in shape each year, I doubt that taking the same actions of signing up for a gym membership and buying a pull-up bar are going to magically work this year.

Retrospection and introspection help us identify patterns that are either working or not working for us.

What to do with them is up to you.