10 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself That Will Help You Progress

“You can’t help yourself, because your SELF sucks.”

So says Billy Bob Thornton with conviction on the movie School for Scoundrels. While that actually sounds like a legitimate claim, it’s not entirely true. While you may have problems motivating yourself, there are steps you can take to improve your life.

One of them is being honest with yourself. Here are 10 questions to help you find the path to a more productive and successful life.

1. What do I really want?

This is an extremely important question to answer first. If you don’t know what you want, how are going to go about getting it? A good book to read that might help is Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The protagonist is baffled by his antagonist’s confusion in what he wants. Knowing what you want will give you a foundation for getting there.

2. Should I really change?

It seems as though some things never change and have always worked. However, if you really want to progress, you have to change particular habits that are holding you back from what you really want, which you determined by answering the first question.

3. What's the bright side in all of this?

While this seems difficult now, all of it will pay off. Think about the alternative. Take no action, stay the same and never get what you want. The bright side is success, relative to your definition of success.

4. Am I comfortable with what I'm doing?

Comfort is not always essential to success, although, you shouldn’t continue to do something if it’s just not right for you. I’m almost certain that what you want is also what will make you comfortable.

5. Have I done enough for myself?

While altruism seems to be the highest of virtues, you can’t entirely neglect yourself. To do so, actually is a contradiction to altruism. You are a person, so treating yourself like one isn’t a bad thing.

6. Am I happy at where I am today?

This goes along with the comfort question. Being happy is a relative question. What makes some people happy would make other miserable. If you’re not happy, you know it. Make a decision to do something about it.

7. Am I appealing to the opposite sex?

Relationships aren’t the easiest thing to know about. Even experts aren’t really experts. Don’t try to be someone different for a certain person. Be yourself. Know what you want and work towards it with passion. That will appeal to the opposite sex.

8. How much could I have?

Think about where you are now and what you could have. All you have to do is work towards what you want. In reality, you can have whatever you want if you really have passion and work for it.

9. What motivates me?

Being unhappy and uncomfortable, I’m sure, do not motivate you. Find out what does and use that to work towards what you want.

10. What Really Makes You Tick?

What are you passionate about? What would you rather be doing right now? What excites you and makes you want to wake up in the morning? This is what you need to concentrate on.