10 Questions That Will Help You Achieve What Matters Most to You

A powerful way to set yourself up to succeed with achieving what matters most to you in your life, work, or business is to ask yourself strategic questions that are designed to help you to identify the exact things that will create the exact outcomes you want to achieve.  

The reason asking yourself the right strategic questions is so powerful and effective is because they cut straight to the core of the things that will make the most difference and have the biggest impact on your progress and results.  That enables you to create the right action plans to deliver specific outcomes.  

But it isn’t enough to just ask yourself strategic questions as a one-off exercise and think that will get you from where you are to where you want to be.

Whilst asking yourself the right questions before you start working on any change, goals, or result you want to achieve will give you a strong start, it is having a regular self-questioning process ongoing that will keep you on the right path consistently.

To help you with that, here are 10 questions to ask yourself. They will help you to identify the exact steps you need to take to achieve the exact outcomes that matter most to you. That information will help you to create an effective action plan.  

STEP 1 - Select a goal, change, or result that you want to achieve.

Make sure you are specific on the exact outcome you want to create.

STEP 2 - 10 Questions to Ask Yourself

As you think about those specific outcomes, ask yourself these questions:

1. What do you need to start doing or do more of consistently?

2.  What do you need to do less of or stop doing altogether?

3. What obstacles or challenges are you facing that could hold back progress and results?

4. What specific behaviours and habits would help you achieve the specific outcomes that matter most to you?

5. What current behaviours and habits do you have that could sabotage your progress and results?

6. What do you need to learn that would help you to achieve the specific results you desire?

7. What support and resources do you need to set yourself up to succeed?

8. What boundaries do you need to put in place to protect what matters most to you as you move forward?

9. What are the specific tasks (in priority order and broken down into small steps) that will get you from where you are to where you want to be? 

10. This last question is critical but often overlooked. It takes mental, physical, and emotional energy to achieve what matters most to you. They are essential for your success. Make prioritizing and protecting your energy levels a top priority. It is the fuel that drives you to where you want to go. Ask yourself:

a) What things boost and maintain your physical, mental, and emotional energy? What will you do to increase those things?

b) What drains your mental, physical, and emotional energy? What will you do to remove, reduce, or deal with those things?

STEP 3 - Turn Your Answers Into Action

Have a go at this self-assessment exercise and see what comes up for you. Turn your answers into a solid action plan to set yourself up to succeed in achieving the specific results that matter most to you.

Note: there is no right or wrong way to do this self-assessment. It might be right for you to do the whole thing in one go. There might be specific questions that are particularly relevant to you right now that you might want to focus on first. Use and adapt this to whatever feels right and most useful for you and your situation.  

STEP 4 - Create a regular review and planning process

These questions will give you a strong start. But the real power comes in using them ongoing to help you stay on track ongoing. Create a regular review and planning process. Use these questions as part of it.

The bottom line

Asking yourself strategic questions like these will help you to set yourself up to succeed. Because achieving what matters most to you doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by design.