Reflection: Take Questionnaires to Help Develop Insights Into Yourself.

I’m working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone’s project will look different, but it’s the rare person who can’t benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday’s post will help you think about your own happiness project.

I’m a big believer in using milestone moments as cues for evaluation and reflection. Hitting a milestone like a major birthday, marriage, the death of a parent, the birth of a child, the loss of a job, an important reunion, or the accomplishment of a career marker like getting tenure or making partner, often acts as a catalyst for positive change.

The new year is, of course, a milestone that we all share. The tradition of making New Year’s resolutions reflects the fact that a lot of us want the change in the calendar to prompt a change in our lives.

If you’d like to do some self-reflection, but you’re not sure exactly how to get started, check out the questionnaires on the University of Pennsylvania’s Authentic Happiness site. It has nineteen scientifically tested questionnaires that cover your overall happiness, your character strengths, your optimism, your perseverance, your compassion, and many other aspects of your life and character.

Even if you don’t agree with the scores you get, merely taking the test and seeing the results helps to act as a catalyst for self-reflection. Plus it’s fun – I love taking these kinds of tests.

Have you found other methods to spur self-reflection and to build self-knowledge?

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Interested in starting your own Happiness Project? If you’d like to take a look at my personal Resolutions Chart, for inspiration, just email me at grubin, then the “at” sign, then gretchenrubin dot com. No need to write anything more than “Resolutions Chart” in the subject line.

Comments

[mia]

i took the strength test and found it really unhelpful. all the questions did were ask me how i rated how 'ingenious' and 'curious' etc i was. if i knew that, i wouldnt be taking the test!

[Debora]

I was curious, but decided to to register. Why do those people need my birthdate and postcode?

[Annette]

I registered to be able to take the tests.

The concept is interesting, but I found the tests to be rather simplistic. It's quite obvious which replies will get you a high happiness score and which will not.

I should add that I only took a couple of tests - unsure if it's worth my time to do more!

[Mark]

Dear Gretchin, I noticed that you don't appear to be particularly happy in your picture but appear to be more the intellectual/analytical type which seems to be supported by the other contents of this blog. I suspect that happiness is more elusive for the analytical.

[Kim]

All I know for sure is that registering for random sites just to take a happiness quiz makes me unhappy. I thought the idea was fun until I hit the link. Ah well.

Still like this blog.

[FupDuckTV]

Mark:: Finally, someone else understands what I've been feeling. Gretchen comes off as "not a naturally happy person". It is admirable that she tries so hard. She is a decent writer and seems to be well connected, but just not naturally happy. It is kinda like a vegetarian writing a cookbook about barbequing.

[Kathleen]

I've taken the UPenn strength questionairre, and I found it very helpful to think about how to use my strengths in situations that I don't enjoy so much. For instance, my top strengths are curiousity and creativity, and when I started looking for ways to actively use those strengths in my work (research and administration), I found I enjoyed my work much more.
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About Gretchen's "natural happiness"....I don't understand the problem here. Personally, I feel I can learn more from someone who is actively trying to raise their happiness level than from someone who just naturally has a happy temperament and doesn't need to work at it. I like this blog because it offers some real possibilities for growth.