Annual self-analysis is vital for effectively marketing your personal services, just as merchants take yearly inventories. This practice reveals diminishing flaws and growing strengths. In life, we advance, stall, or regress—forward progress is non-negotiable. Your annual review measures gains, exposes setbacks, and drives improvement, even if incremental.
Perform this self-analysis at year's end to shape your New Year's resolutions. Answer these questions candidly, then verify with a trusted advisor who prioritizes truth over comfort.
Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Personal Inventory
- Did I achieve the goal I set for myself this year? (Tie it to your primary life goal.)
- Did I deliver the highest quality service I was capable of, or could I have improved?
- Did I provide that service in the greatest quantity possible?
- Was the spirit of my conduct always harmonious and cooperative?
- Did procrastination hinder my effectiveness, and if so, by how much?
- Did I improve my personality, and in what ways?
- Did I persist with my plans through to completion?
- Did I make decisions promptly and definitively?
- Did any of the six basic fears (poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, death) reduce my effectiveness?
- Was I “over-cautious” or “under-cautious”?
- Has my workplace relationships been pleasant or unpleasant? If unpleasant, was it partly or wholly my fault?
- Did I waste energy due to poor concentration?
- Was I open-minded and tolerant?
- How did I enhance my service-rendering ability?
- Was I intemperate in any habits?
- Did I express selfishness overtly or covertly?
- Did my conduct earn respect from associates?
- Were my opinions and decisions based on guesswork or accurate analysis?
- Did I budget time, expenses, and income conservatively?
- How much time went to unprofitable efforts?
- How can I reschedule time and habits for greater efficiency next year?
- Was I guilty of conscience-disapproved conduct?
- In what ways did I deliver more and better service than paid for?
- Was I unfair to anyone, and how?
- If I bought my own services this year, would I be satisfied?
- Am I in the right vocation, and if not, why?
- Is my service buyer satisfied, and if not, why?
- What is my current grade on the Fundamentals of Success? (Assess honestly; verify with someone courageous enough for accuracy.)
Excerpt from THINK AND GROW RICH: The Complete Original Plus Bonus Material (A GPS Guide to Life). Copyright © 2019 by Napoleon Hill and reproduced with permission from St. Martin’s Press.
