Self-awareness is a powerful force in our lives. There are many benefits to spending time understanding your true self, including greater life satisfaction. Explore how to increase self-awareness, using surprisingly complex questions that encourage you to focus on yourself in depth.
Take some time to answer these fifteen questions for self-awareness, and see what you can learn about your likes, dislikes, passions, and goals.
15 Questions to Increase Self-Awareness
Use these questions to learn more about yourself. Really think about how you respond, and take your time answering truthfully and completely.
Your answers may surprise you!
Click here to download these questions as a printable worksheet!
1. What do I like about my life?
Answering this question makes you focus on the good things in your life. It encourages gratitude and allows you to attract more of the good things you value in life.
“Gratitude will shift you to a higher frequency, and you will attract much better things.”
Rhonda Byrne
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2. What do I dislike about my life?
Knowing what you don’t like and putting it into words allows you to focus on how you would like to change, and helps with goal-setting.
3. What are my goals for the next month?
When you know your goals, you can effectively plan your day and ensure that you’re making progress. Short-term goals encourage immediate action.
4. What are my goals for the next 10 years?
To know your ten-year goal, you need to think about your life on a broad scale. Knowing where you want to be in the future can be the motivation you need to create smaller goals that are stepping stones toward the life you desire.

5. What would I change about my job/the way I spend a routine day?
How do you feel about your job – what do you like and dislike about it? What can you do to make your job better? Does your current job “feed your soul” or has it become more of a comfortable habit? Would you consider changing your job, or even your career, at this point?
Click here to download these questions as a printable worksheet!
6. When I was a child, what did I want to do when I grew up?
What were your childhood passions? Are your early desires a part of your life at present? Have you lost sight of what mattered to you when you were younger?

7. Who do I admire and why?
Consider whether the people you admire have common characteristics. Do you possess those same character traits, or would you like to develop them? How can you make that happen?
8. What are the mistakes I continue to make?
You’re not alone if you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over. In fact, your brain is wired to slow down and try to understand your mistake. This makes it dwell more on your error than on creating a solution!
Watch this quick video to understand more about making mistakes:
9. How do I distract myself?
We all have ways we procrastinate or avoid things we don’t want to deal with. Do you watch tv, eat, exercise, or surf the net? Once you’ve identified the ways you distract yourself, you will be more conscious each time you allow it to happen. This could be the start of behavior change.
10. What have I never done, but would love to try?
Research shows that more people regret things they didn’t do than the things they did, even if things they did turned out badly. So maybe it’s time to go skydiving, write a book, or travel to India…what is that burning desire you have yet to achieve?
Click here to download these questions as a printable worksheet!
11. What would I do if I weren’t afraid?
You’ll learn what it is you really want to do by asking yourself this question. Fear stifles creativity and holds us back more than any other emotion.

12. What are the common characteristics of the last three people I dated/three of my closest friends?
What do you seek out in a partner or friend? Are these healthy characteristics, or do you find yourself frustrated and sad, over and over?
What do the characteristics of your partners/friends say about you?
13. What do I worry about?
What are the primary sources of stress and concern in your life?
How does this affect your view of your life and yourself? What can you do to reduce the anxiety in your life?
14. What activity or subject makes me lose track of time while I’m doing it?
Where do you find “flow”, where time disappears because you are so caught up in the activity? These are your passions. How can you build more passion into your daily life?
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
Oprah Winfrey
15. If I gave myself advice, what would it be?
Imagine someone just like yourself with the same life. What advice would you give them? How does it feel to give this advice to “imaginary you”? Is it easier to hear?
Read More:
- Finding Your True Self After Age 50
- 10 Character Traits That Make You a Better Person
- 10 Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery
- A 5-Step Process to Reframe Your Limiting Beliefs
- 10 Brilliant Jen Hatmaker Quotes On Self-Acceptance
Final Thoughts On How to Increase Self-Awareness with 15 (Deceptively Simple) Questions
Discovering more about yourself helps clarify how you can bring greater joy and fulfillment into your life. If you haven’t made an effort to analyze yourself and ask deep questions, you don’t know as much about yourself as you could.
Learning how to increase self-awareness can pay big dividends!
What answers surprised you the most? Let me know in the comments.
Click here to download these questions as a printable worksheet!

These were some soul-searching questions. I must say that they were well put together, and I did answer all of them. I laughed at a few of my answers too. Thanks for sharing this amazing post. It was beneficial to me.
Annette, I am so glad you found these questions useful! It’s good to be able to see the in a positive light, too, as it sounds like you did by laughing at some of your answers. I appreciate you reading and commenting!