You sit down with your coffee on Sunday evening, and something feels off. The week behind you was a blur of meetings, emails, grocery runs, and Netflix binges. You can’t quite pinpoint what you accomplished or whether you’re actually moving forward. Sound familiar?
Most of us live on autopilot, reacting to whatever lands in our inbox or pops up on our calendar. We’re busy, sure, but busy doesn’t always mean productive or fulfilled. That gap between what we want and what we’re actually doing? It widens silently, week after week.
Here’s what changes things: asking yourself the right questions. Not once a year during some big life crisis, but weekly. Every seven days, you get a fresh chance to course-correct, celebrate wins, and spot problems before they snowball. Let’s get into exactly which questions will make that happen.
Questions to Ask Yourself Every Week
These twenty questions will help you reflect on what matters, adjust your approach, and build momentum. Some will take thirty seconds to answer, others might need a few minutes of real thought.
1. What Made Me Feel Most Alive This Week?
Pay attention to when your energy spiked. Maybe it was that conversation with your sister, finishing a project at work, or trying that new recipe you’ve been eyeing. This question helps you identify what actually fuels you, not what you think should make you happy.
Your answer might surprise you. People often assume their biggest accomplishments will top this list, but sometimes it’s the small stuff—a morning walk where you finally felt clear-headed, or helping a coworker solve a tricky problem. These moments are clues about what you need more of in your life.
2. Where Did I Waste Time?
This one stings a bit, but it’s necessary. Look at your week honestly. Did you spend three hours scrolling through social media? Sit through meetings that could have been emails? Redo work because you rushed the first time?
Wasted time isn’t always about laziness. Sometimes we waste time on things that feel productive but don’t actually move us forward. That’s the sneaky kind. Once you spot your time drains, you can protect yourself from them next week.
3. Did I Show Up as the Person I Want to Be?
Think about your interactions with people, your work ethic, how you handled stress. Were you patient with your kids even when you were exhausted? Did you keep your word? Were you honest when it mattered?
This question keeps you accountable to your values. Because here’s the thing: we all have days where we fall short. That’s human. But checking in weekly means you won’t drift too far from who you actually want to be. Small adjustments compound over time.
4. What Problem Can I Solve Next Week?
Shift from reactive to proactive. Instead of waiting for problems to announce themselves loudly, scan ahead. Is your workspace chaotic? Are you low on groceries? Do you need to have a difficult conversation with someone?
Tackling one problem per week means you’re handling fifty-two issues per year before they become crises. That’s powerful. Pick something manageable—not your entire life’s direction, just one concrete thing you can fix or improve.
5. Am I Making Progress on What Actually Matters?
Easy to get swept up in urgency and forget importance. Your boss needs that report by Friday, so you work late all week. But what about your own goals? That side project, your health, quality time with people you love?
Research from Dominican University found that people who wrote down their goals and sent weekly progress reports to friends were 76% more likely to achieve them. That’s not magic. That’s the power of regular check-ins. This question forces you to look beyond the urgent and ask if you’re truly moving forward on your priorities.
6. Who Did I Help This Week?
Contribution matters more than most of us realize. Studies consistently show that helping others boosts our own happiness and sense of purpose. But it doesn’t have to be grand gestures.
Maybe you held the door for someone juggling packages. Listened when a friend needed to vent. Shared useful information with a colleague. These small acts add up, and tracking them reminds you that you’re making a positive difference. It also reveals patterns—are you helping others but neglecting yourself? That’s valuable information too.
7. What’s One Thing I Learned?
Learning keeps life interesting. This could be a fact, a skill, a lesson from a mistake, or insight about yourself. Maybe you figured out a faster way to complete a task at work, or realized you’re grumpier when you skip breakfast.
The act of identifying what you learned reinforces the lesson and primes your brain to keep learning. You start noticing teaching moments everywhere. Over a year, that’s fifty-two distinct pieces of growth. Stack them up and you’ve got real wisdom.
8. Where Am I Being Too Hard on Myself?
We’re often our own worst critics. You mess up one thing and suddenly you’re convinced you’re terrible at everything. This question creates space for self-compassion.
Look at your week through a friend’s eyes. What would they say? Would they agree that you’re failing, or would they point out all the things you actually handled well? Most of us need to extend ourselves the same grace we’d freely give others. Beating yourself up doesn’t improve performance—it just makes you miserable.
9. What’s Draining My Energy?
Energy isn’t just about sleep and coffee. It’s about people, environments, tasks, and habits. Some things fill your tank, others punch holes in it.
Track what leaves you feeling depleted. Is it certain relationships? Specific work responsibilities? The clutter in your living room? Your phone notifications? Once you identify energy drains, you can set boundaries, delegate tasks, or change your environment. Protecting your energy is protecting your capacity to show up fully for what matters.
10. Did I Take Care of My Body?
Your body carries you through everything. How you treat it shows up in your mood, focus, and resilience. This question covers basics: Did you move enough? Eat reasonably well? Get decent sleep?
You don’t need perfection. Three workouts beat zero. Seven hours of sleep crushes five. Water instead of soda matters. Small, consistent choices about your physical health create the foundation for everything else you want to do. If your answer here is consistently “no,” that’s your red flag to prioritize differently.
11. What Made Me Laugh?
Joy matters. Laughter is data about what brings you delight, what catches you off guard in good ways, who makes your life lighter.
If you can’t remember laughing this week, that’s worth examining. Life’s serious enough without eliminating fun entirely. Make note of what actually made you laugh—a TV show, a friend’s joke, your dog’s antics—and consider building more of that into your schedule. Happiness isn’t frivolous; it’s fuel.
12. Am I Avoiding Something Important?
We’re all professionals at procrastination when something feels uncomfortable. That doctor’s appointment you’ve been meaning to schedule. The conversation with your partner about finances. Updating your resume. Starting that project.
Avoidance doesn’t make things disappear—it makes them grow heavier. This question pulls your avoidance into the light. Sometimes just naming what you’re dodging reduces its power. Other times, you need to commit to tackling it next week. Either way, awareness beats denial.
13. What Would I Do Differently If I Could Redo This Week?
Hindsight offers lessons. Not to beat yourself up, but to extract wisdom. Maybe you’d speak up in that meeting instead of staying quiet. Schedule breaks between appointments. Say no to that extra commitment.
Think of this as rehearsal. You can’t actually redo the week, but you can apply these insights going forward. People who engage in regular reflection perform better over time because they’re constantly refining their approach based on real experience.
14. Who Do I Need to Connect With?
Relationships require maintenance. It’s easy to let weeks turn into months without talking to people who matter. This question helps you stay intentional about connection.
Maybe your college friend keeps crossing your mind, or you haven’t checked in with your parents lately. Perhaps there’s a colleague you want to know better, or a mentor you haven’t updated in ages. Jot down one or two names, then reach out. A five-minute phone call or quick text can strengthen bonds that matter.
15. What Am I Grateful For Right Now?
Gratitude isn’t about forcing positivity when life is hard. It’s about training your brain to notice good alongside bad. Research from UC Davis shows that people who kept weekly gratitude journals exercised more, reported fewer physical complaints, and felt more optimistic about their lives.
Get specific. Instead of “my family,” try “the way my daughter laughed at dinner Tuesday” or “my partner making coffee without me asking.” Specificity makes gratitude feel real rather than rote. You’re not glossing over problems; you’re maintaining perspective.
16. Is My Environment Supporting My Goals?
Your surroundings shape your behavior more than you realize. If you want to read more but your books are buried in a closet while your TV dominates the living room, guess what you’ll do?
Scan your spaces this week. Does your bedroom promote good sleep? Is your workspace organized for focus? Does your kitchen make healthy eating easier or harder? Small tweaks can remove friction from good habits and add friction to bad ones. Your environment should work for you, not against you.
17. What’s My Biggest Win?
Celebrate something. Could be major—landing a client, finishing a tough project—or minor—finally organizing that drawer, having a really good conversation, sticking to your morning routine all week.
Acknowledging wins trains your brain to recognize progress. Too often we finish one thing and immediately focus on the next without pausing. That’s exhausting. Taking a moment to recognize what went well builds momentum and reminds you that you’re capable.
18. What Assumptions Am I Making?
We all operate on assumptions. About people’s intentions, about how things work, about what’s possible. Most of the time, we don’t even notice we’re doing it.
Challenge one assumption this week. Maybe you assume your boss is disappointed with you (have you asked?). Or that you can’t afford that class (have you looked at payment plans?). Or that your friend is upset with you (could there be another explanation?). Question your assumptions and you might find new possibilities.
19. How Can I Be Kinder Next Week?
Kindness is a practice, not a personality trait. This question invites you to plan one intentional act of kindness—to yourself or others.
Could be bringing donuts to your team. Could be letting yourself sleep in. Complimenting a stranger. Actually listening instead of planning what you’ll say next. Specific plans beat vague intentions. Decide on one kind thing you’ll do, then do it. Watch how it changes the week.
20. What Does My Gut Say About How Things Are Going?
Beneath all the logic and reasoning, your intuition knows things. That nagging feeling that something’s off in a relationship. The quiet excitement about a new direction. The sense that you’re pushing too hard or not hard enough.
Your gut processes patterns and information you’re not consciously aware of. Give it a voice. Sit quietly for a minute and check in with yourself. How do things actually feel? Trust that response. If something feels wrong even when everything looks fine on paper, that’s information. Same goes for when you feel good even though circumstances aren’t perfect.
Wrap-Up
Twenty questions might sound like a lot, but you’ll breeze through most of them in under a minute once you build the habit. The real power comes from consistency—checking in week after week, spotting patterns, and making micro-adjustments that add up to major shifts over time.
Pick a time that works for you. Sunday evening with tea. Friday afternoon when the week’s winding down. Whenever you choose, protect that slot. This weekly practice is how you stay aligned with what matters, course-correct before you’re miles off track, and build a life that actually feels like yours. Start this week.