Coaching practices for Did My Best Questions
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Did My Best Questions, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- When I check in on myself it’s always "how did the day go," and the answer always seems to ride on things outside my hands
- I’m hitting every productivity target and somehow feeling emptier by the week
- When I ask myself “how did that go?” my mind just hands me the single best or worst moment and calls it done
- My conversations just sort of trail off when the time runs out, and people leave with a polite thanks
- My questions keep getting one-word answers and the conversation just dies, and I’m realizing I’m asking yes/no stuff
Practices that may help
- Reframe passive questions as active questions
Ask "did I do my best to...?" rather than "how was my...?" — the word "try" changes what the question measures.
The Morning Questions - Include a happiness question — not as an outcome goal but as a signal
Add "Did I do my best to be happy today?" to the list — not as a target, but as a daily quality-of-life sensor.
The Morning Questions - The Morning Questions
Marshall Goldsmith’s morning questions are a daily active question routine in which you score yourself each morning on whether you "did your best" to pursue specific values-based commitments the previous day. The practice reframes self-monitoring from passive measurement ("how did X go?") to active responsibility ("did I try?"), which research on active questions suggests produces greater engagement and honest self-assessment. The evidence base is practitioner-clinical; large-scale trials are limited. - Use structured debrief questions to guide any review
Replace "how did it go?" with specific questions that move through each stage of the cycle.
Structured Reflection: Kolb’s Learning Cycle in Practice - Close with "What was most useful for you?"
The closing question turns the conversation into a learning that sticks — and teaches you what is actually valuable.
The Coaching Habit: Seven Questions to Be More Coach-Like - Ask open-ended questions
Replace yes/no questions with ones that invite the speaker to open up.
Active Listening, Made Practical - Question the question itself
Before answering a question, ask whether it is the right question and whether it is framed to produce useful answers.
Socratic Questioning - The four-window inventory (used as a prompt, not a test)
Answer love, skill, need, and pay separately — as four lenses, not four hurdles.
Ikigai, Honestly Explained - Prepare questions you genuinely don’t know the answer to
Ask about the unwritten realities of the role — the things no job posting reveals.
Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network - The three-point daily self-examination
End each day by asking three questions Zengzi — Confucius’s disciple — prescribed: loyalty, trustworthiness, mastery.
Confucian Self-Cultivation: The Mencius Approach
Related concerns
- Did My Best Question
Ask "did I do my best to...?" rather than "how was my...?" — the word "try" changes what the question measures.
Reframe passive questions as active questions
- How To Ask Better Questions
Replace yes/no questions with ones that invite the speaker to open up.
Ask open-ended questions
- Daily Active Questions
Marshall Goldsmith’s morning questions are a daily active question routine in which you score yourself each morning on whether you "did your best" to pursue specific values-based commitments the previous day. The practice reframes self-monitoring from passive measurement ("how did X go?") to active responsibility ("did I try?"), which research on active questions suggests produces greater engagement and honest self-assessment. The evidence base is practitioner-clinical; large-scale trials are limited.
- Goldsmith Daily Questions
Marshall Goldsmith’s morning questions are a daily active question routine in which you score yourself each morning on whether you "did your best" to pursue specific values-based commitments the previous day. The practice reframes self-monitoring from passive measurement ("how did X go?") to active responsibility ("did I try?"), which research on active questions suggests produces greater engagement and honest self-assessment. The evidence base is practitioner-clinical; large-scale trials are limited.
- The Morning Questions At Work
Marshall Goldsmith’s morning questions are a daily active question routine in which you score yourself each morning on whether you "did your best" to pursue specific values-based commitments the previous day. The practice reframes self-monitoring from passive measurement ("how did X go?") to active responsibility ("did I try?"), which research on active questions suggests produces greater engagement and honest self-assessment. The evidence base is practitioner-clinical; large-scale trials are limited.
- The Morning Questions In A New Job
Marshall Goldsmith’s morning questions are a daily active question routine in which you score yourself each morning on whether you "did your best" to pursue specific values-based commitments the previous day. The practice reframes self-monitoring from passive measurement ("how did X go?") to active responsibility ("did I try?"), which research on active questions suggests produces greater engagement and honest self-assessment. The evidence base is practitioner-clinical; large-scale trials are limited.
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