Here it is folks, over 250 questions from New York Times bestselling author, James Clear!
Click here to check out my favorites and if you’ve got a question you love, let me know!
DATE | QUESTION |
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August 8, 2019 | How long will you put off what you are capable of doing just to continue what you are comfortable doing? |
August 15, 2019 | What are the most likely sources of pain in my life over the next year? How can I prepare for or prevent them? |
August 22, 2019 | Can my current habits carry me to my desired future? |
August 29, 2019 | What should you do more of this decade? What should you do less of? |
September 5, 2019 | Look at each item on your to-do list and ask, “Is this truly necessary?” |
September 12, 2019 | Do you really need to think more, or is it simply a matter of doing the work? |
September 19, 2019 | The people who have already walked through the fire can help you do the same. Who are you surrounding yourself with? |
September 26, 2019 | This week’s question builds on the quote from John Gardner above. |
How are you collaborating in your defeat?
Don’t take it the wrong way. This question doesn’t mean your current situation is entirely your fault or even that it is 50/50. But the truth is you bring something into every interaction you will ever experience. (At the very least, you bring your attitude.)
How are you contributing to your own struggle? | | October 3, 2019 | How would the person I wish to be act today? | | October 10, 2019 | What can you remove from your life that would improve it? | | October 17, 2019 | Are things truly not going well … or do I just need some food, water, and a short break? | | October 24, 2019 | How can I prepare carefully, but execute quickly? | | October 31, 2019 | Am I happy with the tradeoffs I am making in my life right now? | | November 7, 2019 | What is the biggest opportunity I could pursue in the next 5 minutes? | | November 14, 2019 | If you were forced to work for just one hour per day, what would you work on during that hour to be most effective? | | November 21, 2019 | What is the most neglected important area in my life right now? | | November 28, 2019 | Are your obligations real or imagined? | | December 5, 2019 | What are you avoiding just because you know the answer is painful? | | December 12, 2019 | Am I climbing the right mountain? | | December 19, 2019 | What do you really wish you had the courage to do?
Follow up: How can you take the first step in the next 5 minutes? | | December 26, 2019 | Over the last 10 years, what has become more important to you? What has become less important? | | January 2, 2020 | Think of the ultimate outcome you are hoping to achieve. Is there a path to accomplishing this where you would encounter less resistance? | | January 9, 2020 | What am I holding on to that I need to let go of this year? | | January 16, 2020 | In what ways are you a difficult person to work with?
What can you learn from that? | | January 23, 2020 | Am I tolerating my flaws or improving them? | | January 30, 2020 | Will this matter in six months? | | February 6, 2020 | What are the minority of my actions that drive the majority of my results? | | February 13, 2020 | Will this cost me time in the future or save me time in the future? | | February 20, 2020 | Whose expectations am I trying to fulfill? My own or those of someone else? | | February 27, 2020 | What would 10-year-old me say? What would 80-year-old me say? | | March 5, 2020 | How would I know if my beliefs are wrong? | | March 12, 2020 | Which projects give me energy? Which projects takes it away?
Which people give me energy? Which people take it away? | | March 19, 2020 | How can I make the most of this? | | March 26, 2020 | Who is your biggest fan? How can you thank them today? | | April 2, 2020 | What is one thing I am looking forward to today? | | April 9, 2020 | Can you sit still, do nothing, and breathe deeply for the next two minutes? | | April 16, 2020 | Am I proud of what I am choosing to do? | | April 23, 2020 | Who do I know that can help me with this? | | April 30, 2020 | A simple question that may help reveal the positive side of the current moment:
What does this make possible? | | May 7, 2020 | What is something that feels productive to you in the moment, but usually ends up wasting time and energy? | | May 14, 2020 | Am I doing this for Present Me or Future Me? | | May 21, 2020 | What do you enjoy refining? (It’s the areas you can’t help yourself from editing and optimizing where you have a long-term advantage.) | | May 28, 2020 | If someone could only see my actions and not hear my words, what would they say are my priorities? | | June 4, 2020 | What is the biggest small thing I could do today? | | June 11, 2020 | Which of my current habits serves me most? Which serves me least? | | June 18, 2020 | What are you preventing yourself from feeling? | | June 25, 2020 | What can you work on today that will continue working for you years from now? | | July 2, 2020 | Am I being good to myself? | | July 9, 2020 | What am I avoiding just because the desired outcome would take longer than I’d like? | | July 16, 2020 | What would some of the alternative routes look like? | | July 23, 2020 | Imagine each day is only 12 hours long. What would you cut out? | | July 30, 2020 | Which areas of my life are in maintenance mode? Which areas are in growth mode? | | August 6, 2020 | Am I being effective or just busy? | | August 13, 2020 | What am I holding on to that I need to let go of? | | August 20, 2020 | What is your personal compounding advantage in your career? | | August 27, 2020 | What is one thing you can accomplish today that would make this day a success? | | September 3, 2020 | What are the 1-2 things that if you get them done today, you’ll go to bed content? | | September 10, 2020 | Is there a better way? Is there a kinder way? | | September 17, 2020 | If you keep living the way you are, what will your life look like in 20 years?
Sometimes we need patience. Sometimes we need action. | | September 24, 2020 | Who brings out your best qualities? Can you take five minutes right now to schedule time with them? | | October 1, 2020 | This week, I’ll steal a question from Richard Hamming’s fabulous talk, You and Your Research.
What are the important problems in your field? And if you’re not working on them, why not? | | October 8, 2020 | What am I reinforcing each day? | | October 15, 2020 | Momentum is a double-edged sword. It can propel you to new heights or keep you locked into previous choices and old habits.
Where do I have healthy momentum right now? Where do I have unhealthy momentum? | | October 22, 2020 | What is the little bit of extra work that has huge upside? | | October 29, 2020 | Who can I collaborate with to make this easier? | | November 5, 2020 | What part of this situation is under my control? | | November 12, 2020 | What is one repeating problem you can automate or eliminate today? | | November 19, 2020 | What would your closest friend tell you to do? | | November 26, 2020 | Some questions to consider before you speak:
Does this need to be said?
Does this need to be said by me?
Does this need to be said by me right now? | | December 3, 2020 | Sometimes you have to pass through the fire. What fire or pain should you seek out in your life over the next year so you can learn its lessons? | | December 10, 2020 | Imagine the most important goal or project you are working on right now. Fast forward six months. Imagine the project has failed.
Why did you fail? | | December 17, 2020 | What is one small thing I could do today that would make a meaningful impact on my future? | | December 24, 2020 | What is best in the short-term? What is best in the long-term? | | December 31, 2020 | What is a mistake you seem to repeat each year? What can you do to prevent it this time? | | January 7, 2021 | If you met someone exactly like yourself …
– same experience – same resources – same problems
… what advice would you give them? | | January 14, 2021 | What is the highest leverage action I can execute on right now? | | January 21, 2021 | Has the most important thing changed? Am I chasing an outdated target? | | January 28, 2021 | What are you working on when time fades away? | | February 4, 2021 | Today’s question comes from the engineer, Richard Hamming:
“If you do not work on important problems, how can you expect to do important work?” | | February 11, 2021 | Does this activity fill me with energy or drain me of energy? | | February 18, 2021 | What do I actually want? | | February 25, 2021 | A question from venture capitalist and executive coach, Jerry Colonna:
“How are you complicit in creating the conditions you say you don’t want?” | | March 4, 2021 | What are my actions moving me closer to? | | March 11, 2021 | What 6-month period of your life was the most energizing and fun?
What can you learn from your answer? | | March 18, 2021 | What could be improved? What could be removed? | | March 25, 2021 | Does the amount of time I’m giving this match its true importance? | | April 1, 2021 | How am I living with the results of other people’s thinking? | | April 8, 2021 | What do I keep coming back to? What is that telling me? | | April 15, 2021 | How can I create an environment that will naturally bring about my desired change? | | April 22, 2021 | If I keep doing what I am about to do today for the next five years, will I end up with more of what I want or less of what I want? | | April 29, 2021 | How have my bad habits become a crutch I lean on? What stories do I need to let go of so I can walk freely? | | May 6, 2021 | An insightful question from Steph Smith:
“How much of what you did today was simply due to inertia?
Never get so busy that you forget to actively design your life.” | | May 13, 2021 | What is a small pleasure that brings me great joy? Can I enjoy it today? | | May 20, 2021 | A question from writer Elizabeth Gilbert:
“What do you love doing so much that the words failure and success essentially become irrelevant?” | | May 27, 2021 | Am I working at the right level? Do I need to zoom in or zoom out? | | June 3, 2021 | Do the people around me act the way I wish to act? | | June 10, 2021 | What is one action that would make today a success? | | June 17, 2021 | What is the limiting factor? | | June 24, 2021 | People will tell stories about you at your funeral. What chapter are you writing today? |