Daily Question Process
Score your daily effort on the priorities that matter most
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 100%
The Daily Question Process is a brief personal report card built around active responsibility. Write a column of questions representing what matters across work, relationships, happiness, meaning, and engagement. Phrase each as “Did I do my best to…” so the score measures effort rather than blaming circumstances or demanding an outcome you cannot fully control. Add seven daily score boxes, answer every question with yes, no, or a number, and review the pattern at week’s end. Because honest scoring is uncomfortable, use a daily caller or accountability partner when self-discipline fails. The repeated mirror converts abstract values into visible behavior and reveals where intention is not becoming effort.
Origin
Goldsmith presents the process in his book Triggers and says he personally has someone call daily while he reads questions he wrote and supplies his own answers.
Core principles
- 01Measure effort on priorities every day
- 02Active questions remove the excuse of blaming the environment
- 03Trying is controllable even when success is not
- 04External accountability is legitimate even for experts
How to run it
- 1
Choose what matters
List the personal and professional priorities that deserve daily effort, including relationships and inner well-being rather than work alone.
Pro tip Start with a short list you can review in about three minutes.
Watch out Do not fill the sheet with values that sound impressive but do not matter to you.
- 2
Make every question active
Begin each item with “Did I do my best to…” and complete it with the desired behavior or priority.
Pro tip Use effort wording for goals whose outcomes depend partly on other people.
Watch out Passive questions invite explanations about what the environment failed to provide.
- 3
Build the weekly scorecard
Place the questions in a column and create seven boxes across, one for each day. Define a simple yes, no, or numeric scoring convention.
- 4
Score daily
Answer every question honestly at the same time each day. Judge whether you tried, not whether you can explain a poor outcome.
Pro tip Attach the review to an existing evening routine.
Watch out Do not retrospectively inflate scores to protect your self-image.
- 5
Review and get help
Study the weekly pattern and change behavior where effort is repeatedly low. Recruit someone to call or check the scores if you stop completing them.
Pro tip Treat needing help as a design choice, not a character flaw.
Watch out Do not abandon the process merely because the report card is humbling.
In the wild
Goldsmith recommends asking whether he did his best to set clear goals, make progress toward goals, find meaning, be happy, build positive relationships, and be fully engaged. He answers his own questions daily while an accountability caller listens.
→ The six priorities become observable daily effort rather than aspirational statements.
Common mistakes
Asking passive questions
Questions such as whether goals were clear make it easy to blame managers, coworkers, or circumstances instead of examining effort.
Quitting when the score is ugly
The discomfort is evidence that the process is exposing a real intention-action gap, not that the process has failed.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for people who know what matters but struggle to act consistently without a daily check-in.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for diagnosing goals that remain unclear or measuring outcomes outside the person's control.
From the transcript
“you get out a spreadsheet you write down a column of questions that represent what's most important in your life friends family coworkers etc every…”
“these actor questions begin with the phrase did i do my best to and what's amazing about that phrase is you cannot blame someone else…”
“did i do my best today to be fully engaged”
From the episode
YAPClassic: Dr. Marshall Goldsmith on Becoming a Better Leader
YAPClassic