6 Powerful Questions To Ask Yourself Daily To Become A Successful Leader

1. Which goals did I accomplish today?

Setting long term and short terms goals are crucial to becoming a successful leader. Writing down goals helps you streamline your focus and channelizing your faculties towards an intended end.

In Leadership Axioms, Bill Hybels talks about the six-by-six strategy. Take an index card and write 6 areas/projects/tasks that you would like to complete in the next 6 weeks.  Put that index card in a prominent place on your desk or workspace, and review it each morning.  Use that list as a filter to determine what you’re going to spend the majority of your time and energy on during the next 6 weeks. Hybels says that every time he does this, he finds that he has made significant progress towards what he lists.

2. Are there any habits that are keeping me from achieving my goals?

In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey shares the maxim: “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”

It is always the small foxes that ruin the vineyard; hence our bad habits however benign at the beginning tend to become the reason for our downfall. It is imperative that these habits are recognized and nipped in the bud earlier on.

3. I am dependant on motivation to do the right things?

According to John Maxwell, ‘Motivation is not the cause of action it is the product of action’. If you wait for motivation to move you to do something you will be co-dependent on an external source for reasons to achieve your goals. You end up playing the blame game and not wanting to take the ownership for your results. Doing what you are supposed to do; because it is the right thing to do, gets you on the roll in meeting your day to day tasks on a daily basis.

4. Am I person of character?

Skills can be taught, talent is fairly common but character is formed. In essence it is character that protects your talent.  John Maxwell says “Character creates a foundation upon which the structure of your talent and your life can build. If there are cracks in that foundation, you cannot build much.”

Self discipline, truth, integrity, a sense identity are core values to an individual’s personhood. These take time to immerge but are prerequisites in making a person capable of living a life of influence and leaving a lasting legacy.

5. What did I learn from the mistakes I made today and can I forgive myself for them?

Mistakes are a part and parcel of your entrepreneurial journey. It is not only important to recognize those mistakes but to draw a learning and then to pardon yourself for them as well. Guilt is not your friend. To be able to look squarely at a problem and making the best decision in the circumstances you are facing at the moment takes wisdom and grit. While bad choices are made, taking onus for it and being response able as well as responsible is a rare quality.

6. What am I thankful for today?

It is a good practise before you retire for the day to list out three things that you are thankful for in the day. Gratitude is a quality that doesn’t come by easy but helps you to remain hopeful and gives you clarity on what is most important.  Gratitude is not something that can be taught, it is a virtue that has to be learned through practise.