Gym Is Closed, Take Time To Reflect and React

The gym is closed for New Year’s Day.

New Year’s Resolutions are no new concept.

I don’t plan to use this opportunity to give you another spiel about goal setting. Instead, I plan to remind you of another not-so-new concept- the power of reflection as a tool for guiding present and future action. Below are 28 questions for self-examination published in one of the most influential books of all-time, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Hill more than suggests doing an annual inventory of one’s self to analyze and identify a “decrease in faults, and increase in virtues”. If you find it difficult to be honest with yourself in your answers, use a ‘spotter’ who knows you well!

1. Have I attained the goal which I established as my objective for this year? (You should work with a definite yearly objective to be attained as a part of your major life objective).
2. Have I delivered service of the best possible QUALITY of which I was capable, or could I have improved any part of this service?
3. Have I delivered service in the greatest possible QUANTITY of which I was capable?
4. Has the spirit of my conduct been harmonious and cooperative at all times?
5. Have I permitted the habit of PROCRASTINATION to decrease my efficiency, and if so, to what extent?
6. Have I improved my PERSONALITY, and if so, in what ways?
7. Have I been PERSISTENT in following my plans through to completion?
8. Have I reached DECISIONS PROMPTLY AND DEFINITELY on all occasions?
9. Have I permitted any one or more of the six basic fears to decrease my efficiency?
10. Have I been either “over-cautious,” or “under-cautious?”
11. Has my relationship with my associates in work been pleasant, or unpleasant? If it has been unpleasant, has the fault been partly, or wholly mine?
12. Have I dissipated any of my energy through lack of CONCENTRATION of effort?
13. Have I been open-minded and tolerant in connection with all subjects?
14. In what way have I improved my ability to render service?
15. Have I been intemperate in any of my habits?
16. Have I expressed, either openly or secretly, any form of EGOTISM?
17. Has my conduct toward my associates been such that it has induced them to RESPECT me?
18. Have my opinions and DECISIONS been based upon guesswork, or accuracy of analysis and THOUGHT?
19. Have I followed the habit of budgeting my time, my expenses, and my income, and have I been conservative in these budgets?
20. How much time have I devoted to UNPROFITABLE effort which I might have used to better advantage?
21. How may I RE-BUDGET my time, and change my habits so I will be more efficient during the coming year?
22. Have I been guilty of any conduct which was not approved by my conscience?
23. In what ways have I rendered MORE SERVICE AND BETTER SERVICE than I was paid to render?
24. Have I been unfair to anyone, and if so, in what way?
25. If I had been the purchaser of my own services for the year, would I be satisfied with my purchase?
26. Am I in the right vocation, and if not, why not?
27. Has the purchaser of my services been satisfied with the service I have rendered, and if not, why not?
28. What is my present rating on the fundamental principles of success? (Make this rating fairly, and frankly, and have it checked by someone who is courageous enough to do it accurately).