As we look to understand ourselves deeper, you might get stuck on where to start. Asking questions about who you are is a great place to turn, but many questions that tell us about ourselves are complex and multifaceted.

And those are super hard to answer!

So although it’s exciting to learn about ourselves, it can become a daunting task. And sometimes we can get so caught up in asking epic questions, we forget to notice what our daily choices say about us.

Every day we make decisions: when to get up, what to eat, when to leave for work, what to do in our free time, and many more.

You’ve made little daily choices like this day after day for a long time, so it’s easy to stop noticing that they’re even choices to begin with.

But the little things can say a lot about you!

Early Bird or Night Owl?

Let’s look at a simple example everyone experiences:

Are you someone who loves the morning or thrives at night?

How can knowing if you’re a morning or night person really help the “getting to know yourself” process? What does that say about you?

Well, it’s not just about answering morning or night. It’s about why you prefer what you prefer.

Do you like the way the morning looks? Does the night feel more exciting to you? What kind of activities correlate with those times of day? Is it just about your internal rhythm, or is it about what’s more fulfilling for you?

There are endless options of why you do what you do or like what you like.

But by stopping to look at those questions, you start to uncover who you are in your day-to-day life.

When you really look at why you answer the way you did, and what that implies about your personality, you begin to see exciting gems of knowledge underneath the simplicity.

Say you love the night because you love to go out and do fun things that only happen at night. Maybe that implies you’re a really adventurous person who loves the thrill of the evening. Maybe you like the social aspect of being a night owl. Or maybe it feels like your time away from daily responsibilities.

The same thing applies to the morning! You just need to ask the same kind of probing questions.

All these different answers say different things about your character. And that helps you explore yourself deeper, just by answering simple questions you already know.

There aren’t always opportunities for life to test you in revealing ways. And there are rarely life changing situations occurring frequently enough to allow us to understand ourselves when we want to.

But that’s why the basic questions about day-to-day life are a great place to start!

You live life every day with a myriad of opinions and thoughts. And you make decisions based on those opinions.

By slowing those decisions down, you allow yourself to get to the heart of the matter and understand yourself further. One day those insights might even be of use in more complex situations.

Understanding yourself through the small details is an important element of personal development.

Try These Questions To Get You Started:

Give these questions a go, and really look at the details of your answer…

Why did you answer the way you did? What does that say about you? Really focus on what your answer says about who you are.

1. Try planning your day out different ways in your mind. How would you plan your day without restrictions?

• Do you go down the “hop a plane and fly to Paris” route and imagine you’re a millionaire?
• Do you look at your day as if you have the day off and can do whatever sounds fun?
• Or do you look at your day with all your obligations in place, but imagine the best-case scenario?

All three ways of looking at your day will impact your knowledge of yourself differently. Dreaming about what you want helps you to discover your deeper desires, which helps you turn them into a reality.

So when you have a day off or someone asks you what you want to do for your birthday, you have an idea. And that makes it much more likely to come true!

2. What is your favorite type of food? 

• What dinner, dessert, drink, or snack do you like? Why?
• What is your favorite part about eating it?
• Where did you have your favorite version of it? What memories are tied to that experience?
• Has your favorite food changed as you’ve grown up? What was it? What is it now?

Eating is a vital part of living. Taking time to notice what you like about something you do so frequently can be very revealing and say a lot about your tastes and preferences.

3. What movie genre appeals to you the most? Which ones don’t? 

• What’s your favorite movie?
• What do you like about a genre? How does it make you feel?
• What do you like to watch when you’re down?
• What does that genre reveal about who you are on the inside?

Television, movies, books, even radio and podcasts are everywhere. And what you choose to invest in says a lot about who you are.

Take a look at what you spend your time enjoying and why you love what you love. Notice how you feel with each genre and what you gravitate towards.

It might even reveal something about your value system, or what you think is worth spending time on. What a big revelation!

4. What irritates you? 

• What’s your biggest pet peeve?
• What do you think is unjust?
• Why do those things affect you the way they do?

Your downs are just as important as your ups, and knowing what gets under your skin is a great way to look at what matters to you.

You may already know what you like and dislike, but look at the implications that has. The smaller ones probably say little things about you, but they might lead to opinions that reveal your view of the world.

5. What’s your favorite holiday? Do you even have a favorite holiday? 

• Which holidays do you count down to?
• Do you think any are pointless?
• What aspects really appeal to you?
• Was it different when you were a kid?

Look at how you have or haven’t changed over the years. Are you still a child at heart and can’t sleep before a big holiday? Or do you love quieter holidays spent with family and/or friends?

Look at what feels so special about that day and how you like to celebrate it. Notice what uplifts you the most.

6. If money weren’t an obstacle, where would you go on your dream vacation? 

• What part of the world are you most curious about? Why?
• What part of that place appeals to you?
• Do you prefer natural wonders or man made history?

Now that you know what you dream about, maybe you could actually make that trip happen! Why don’t you try to plan or save for it? Watch that documentary on it! Your dreams tell you so much about your inner self.

7. Are you a knight, king, or sage?

• Do you love your passion about things that matter to you?
• Do you take pride in your tactics and efficiency?
• Do you treasure your wisdom and understanding of life?

Looking at the lens through which you view the world most let’s you understand so much more about who you are. That’s why we developed the Knight, King, Sage method as a tool for self discovery.

If you don’t know which one you are, try taking our Knight, King, Sage personality quiz and read up on the defining characteristics of each type in The Foolproof Guide To Understanding Knight, King, Sage (part 2). 

Whatever your answers are and however you discover them, they are a part of you. By learning about who you are, you solidify the person you share with the world and give yourself a strong foundation for growth.

So enjoy looking at the little things and what they say about you!