The prompts
Self-reflection journal prompts.
Self-reflection prompts are hard to answer from memory, because by the end of a week the details have blurred. Keep a few days of notes first, even a line or two a day, then answer from the notes. Having the record in front of you keeps the answers honest.
Your choices
- 1What did you say yes to this week that you wish you had declined?
- 2How many hours this week went to things you chose?
- 3Which of today's meetings or tasks could someone else have done?
- 4What did you put off again, and for how many days now?
- 5Where did you spend time today to avoid something else?
- 6What did you do today only because it was expected of you?
- 7What rule do you follow that you have never questioned?
Your days and your values
- 8Name three things you value. How many hours did each get this week?
- 9Which part of your week looks like the life you want?
- 10Which part of your week would you not want to repeat for a year?
- 11Who got the hours when you had energy today, and who got the rest?
- 12What do you call important but never find time for?
- 13How long were you on your phone today, and was it worth it?
- 14When did you last do something for the first time?
What to change
- 15Which habit would you drop tomorrow if you could?
- 16What would you do with one extra free hour a day?
- 17What did you learn about yourself this week?
- 18What would you tell yourself from a year ago?
- 19What would you change about how you spent today?
- 20What is one small change you can test for a week?
A real answer
One honest answer, and the hours behind it.
The answer below responds to the first prompt, about saying yes. The writer admits to three meetings they did not need, a workday that ran an hour and a half late, and a run that never happened. We gave it to the parser in Think in Numbers, the part of the app that reads plain words and adds up the hours. It counted 8h 30m of work and 1h with the kids, the part of the day the writer would keep. The skipped run is not in the hours, because it did not happen.
“I said yes to too much this week, and today showed it. Up at 6:30. Three meetings from 10 to 1 that I did not need to be in. Lunch at my desk, then my own work from 1:30 until 7, an hour and a half later than I meant to stay. I skipped the run I planned. The part I would keep: an hour with the kids before bed, 8 to 9. Asleep around 11.”
The hours it became
- Work8h 30m
- Sleep7h 30m
- Family & Friends1h
- Food & Meals30m
- Unaccounted6h 30m
17h 30m of 24 hours accounted for. Unaccounted is the time the words never mentioned.
Real output from the part of Think in Numbers that reads your words and adds up the hours (version v21), run on with the app’s starter categories. Stored exactly as it came out, not edited.
How to use them
How to use self-reflection prompts.
Self-reflection prompts work well as a weekly review, a short look back at the week before the next one starts. On Sunday, read the week’s entries, then answer one prompt from each group above. End with one change to test next week, small enough to try, such as declining one meeting you do not need.
For questions about who you are and what you want, start with the self-discovery prompts. For a method to reflect on a single event, read reflective journaling. For the day’s record itself, use the evening prompts.
Notebook or app
Self-reflection prompts in Think in Numbers.
The Sunday review needs a record to answer from, and in a notebook the record is a few days of notes you total yourself.
An app for self-reflection should keep the record for you, so the weekly review starts from real hours and ends with one change to test. Reflecting is the part most journaling apps do well. What they lack is the record beneath it, so the answer about where the hours went still comes from memory.
One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in.
You write or say your day in your own words, as it happens or all at once. The app reads what you wrote and counts the hours that went to each part of it: work, sleep, time with people, your phone, and the time you never mentioned (shown as unaccounted). Then it shows those hours over days and weeks. Its targets and weekly plan turn the change you pick into next week’s hours.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.
Keep reading.
- Journal promptsPrompts by moment and goal, many ending in something you can count.
- Self-discovery promptsPrompts that learn who you are from how you spend your days.
- Reflective journalingWhat happened, what it meant, what comes next.
- Evening promptsPrompts for the end of the day, from what happened to what tomorrow gets.
- Where did my week go? calculatorEnter a typical day and see your week accounted and unaccounted.
- Time journalingThe method: write or say your day in your own words, then see it as hours.
Questions
Questions people ask.
What are self-reflection journal prompts?
Self-reflection journal prompts are questions that make you look at your own choices and habits. The prompts on this page compare what you say you value with how your days really went.
How is self-reflection different from self-discovery?
Self-discovery asks who you are and what you want. Self-reflection asks whether your days match it. The two sets of prompts work well one after the other.
How often should I answer self-reflection prompts?
Once a week is enough for most people. A week holds enough days to show a pattern, and a short weekly entry is easy to keep.
What if the answers are uncomfortable?
Uncomfortable answers are usually the useful ones. Write them down plainly and pick one small change to test for a week. Then answer the same prompt again.
Try it on my day.
Write today down in your own words, and see where the hours went.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.