I have recently been talking more openly about my self discovery path and I thought it was time I shared the self discovery journal prompts that have served me well in the last few years.

But first, an anecdote – I used to be completely clueless about who I was or what I wanted in my life.

Of course, I didn’t know that was the case at the time – no, I naively thought my 18 year old self had my crap together and was on a path to living my best, most aware life.

Oh, the joys of blissful ignorance…I laugh at this now because while I was doing my best in life, I had zero idea what I truly wanted or valued when I was in college.

My best plans in life were to graduate, get a good paying job, and get married. The realities of life that instill a deeper wisdom had still left me unscathed and I was, in kind terms, unrealistic in what I thought I wanted and who I thought I was.

But here we are many years later and life has taught me a thing or two. No doubt I’ll look back at my current self in another 10 years and again chuckle at my naivety, but for now, I’m doing my best.

Sometime in my early twenties, as life began to teach me a thing or two, there were a few defining moments that helped me realize I had no idea who I was or what I wanted. It led me on a self discovery path that has forever changed my life. It also required me to ask a few simple but sometimes hard to answer self discovery questions.

How Self Discovery Questions Deepen Your Self Awareness

My Self Discovery path started when I suddenly realized I was completely lost in life. I didn’t know how I had gotten there because I thought I had done everything right up to that point. Unfortunately, I also didn’t know how to get myself out of that state (because of the whole young and naive thing) so I did the only thing that made any sense at the time… I started Googling things.

Well, at the time, it seemed logical that Google would hold big life answers. I’m not entirely sure that was the case but it did lead me down a path that helped me realize I had lost sight of who I was and what I wanted in this new stage of my life. You see, I had graduated college, gotten married, and established a job situation. I was 22… So… now what?

It wasn’t until I got very real about taking the time to ask myself self discovery questions and write out the answers to self discovery journal prompts that I was able to wrap my arms around what my best self and life looked like. The answers have changed and been reshaped over the years, but here I am, nearly a decade later and I can confidently say that the number one thing that has helped me create a life I feel good about is awareness.

When I asked the right questions it forced me to step off autopilot mode and take real note of the situation.

We often spend so much time on autopilot that one day we wake up and realize we’ve worked to create a life or self we don’t want to have to live with. Bringing self awareness to the small things affects the big things.

57 Self Discovery Journal Prompts

The biggest purpose of doing a self discovery deep dive is getting to know who you are and what you want to create, so that you can become aware of where you stand and what actions you need to take to close the gap.

Self discovery questions will help bring about awareness to the good and the difficult things to face. Being on a self discovery journey can feel a little scary at times. It’s perfectly normal to feel that way and I encourage you to chat it out with a friend, therapist, or life coach.

I also want you to know that this isn’t a one stop shopping session. Be honest with yourself, take it slow if you need, and don’t overwhelm yourself.

Remember, the goal is NOT self degradation. It is self knowledge for self improvement.

I used to hate who I was and was scared others would too. I was afraid to open up to anyone, including myself because of it. I spent a great amount of time tearing myself down for not being good enough.

But I had a dream in life. The only problem was that getting to it would mean being honest with myself about who I was and who I needed to be to fulfill that dream. Now, I love the life I have, and it all started with self discovery. I’m so excited for you to take this step too.

To help you, I’ve put together a list of thought provoking and deep dive journal prompts. I designed these prompts to build on each other so it works best if you answer them in order.

The Self Discovery Questions That Change My Life

1) What are five qualities you currently have that you are really strong in and will take you to where you want to go in life?

2) List five words or characteristics to describe the person you want to become

3) What are five qualities that currently hold you back from becoming the person you know in your soul you can be?

4) What five words would other people use to describe you?

5) What are five words you wish they would use to describe you?

6) Are the five words you wish they would use authentically you or based on characteristics you compare yourself to in other people?

7) Based on your answers to the questions above, what are three areas of life or yourself that you can begin to grow in to close the gap between where you are and the person you know in your soul you can be?

8) Which would you say you care more about – building a successful career or creating a simple and happy lifestyle you love?

9) What are your last three happiest moments that have taken place recently?

10) From those three memories, what about each one do you value?

11) What activities do you love to do that make you feel creative?

12) Can you intentionally cultivate more of these moments in your life?

13) Write a list of things in your life you would change now if you could.

14) For each of those things, what gift or lesson can you take from it to make changes or do things differently in the future?

15) Write out from start to finish how a typical day goes for you.

16) Of the things on this list, which do you hope are still there five years from now?

17) Of the things on this list, which do you hope to change within five years?

18) What would you say the top three current priorities in your life are?

19) What would you want the top three priorities in your life to be?

20) What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment in life so far?

21) What about it made it your biggest accomplishment?

22) If you hadn’t accomplished that thing in your life, how would you feel about yourself?

23) What does this answer reveal to you about how you view success?

24) What are your three biggest dreams in life that you have not yet accomplished but feel you should have already?

25) How often do you degrade yourself for not accomplishing them? And do you allow others to degrade you as well?

26) Do you base your self-worth upon your accomplishments in life or your unfulfilled dreams?

27) If you didn’t (or don’t) care about how others view you and your accomplishments, how would you live life differently than you do now?

28) When you get to the end of your life, what will you regret not doing?

29) What would it actually take to do or get this thing?

30) How have you grown in the last five years?

31) How do you hope to grow in the next five years?

32) What makes you feel the most stressed out?

33) How do you cope with your stress? Do you feel good about this?

34) What things have you been resisting that if you learned to accept and manage, would make your life less of a struggle?

35) Which areas of life do you feel like you struggle but don’t know why?

Imagine you are five years in the future and you have created a life you love:

36) What words would you use to describe the way you feel when you wake up in the morning?

37) List out what your ideal day is as you go through hour by hour.

38) How do you spend your evenings?

39) What kind of vacations do you take and how often?

40) How much time do you work versus spend with family or doing activities you love?

41) Are you living for success or lifestyle?

42) Where do you live?

43) Write a letter to yourself five years from now.

44) Write down all the things you have wanted to do or accomplish in life at some point that you haven’t done yet.

45) Is there anything on the list you created from the question above, that you can make happen in the next day, week, or month?

46) What was your favorite thing to do as a kid? What about it did you love?

47) How do you feel your childhood or past has played a part in who you are as an adult?

48) Do you feel you are allowing anything from your past hold you back from your dreams?

49) How often do you let fear of the unknown dictate your actions?

50) Do you think you are currently on the path to your dream life?

51) What is one thing you could do today to set you closer to your dream life?

52) What is the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

53) What would life look like if you acted with that much courage regularly?

54) What is your biggest insecurity? Who would you become if you let it go?

55) If you had one “relaxation” day a week, what would you do during that time?

56)How many of the decisions you make do you compare to someone else’s life?

57) What would YOU do with your life if you had 100% freedom from finances, expectations, and circumstances you feel you can’t control?

Last Thoughts

Self discovery questions and self discovery journal prompts are the number one thing that has helped me pause long enough to become aware of what I wanted/needed to change in my life.

They can help you do the same! Not every prompt will be super impactful for you. There may be one that gives you an “ah-ha” life changing realization that does nothing for someone else and vice versa. There is no right or wrong answer as you walk this journey.

The answers are yours and yours alone. Also, It’s okay if you don’t get all these answered in one sitting. In fact, that may feel like a lot. My suggestion would be to keep a journal nearby and make a habit of answering two to three questions a day.

You’ll begin to know yourself better which will empower you to create a life you feel good about. When you know who you are, you can feel confident. When you know what you want, you can move in a direction that brings that to life.

Again, the goal of self discovery is NOT self degradation. It is self knowledge for self improvement. So, here’s to your self improvement for a life you can feel good about!

Feel armed with Self Discovery Q’s but Want to Go Deeper on How it Can Change Your Life?

Ready the blog post What is Self Discovery? to learn more about how these journal prompts can impact you life!