How to Form a Personal Philosophy: 7

Questions to Ask Yourself

MAY 31, 2022

Forming a personal philosophy isn’t easy – but it’s worth it. A personal philosophy
provides you with a fundamental framework for creating a meaningful life. You can
use it to align all facets of your higher self and find a purpose in everything you do.

Many people flow through life with no personal guidance system in place. From this
position of uncertainty, we end up breezing through life with little direction and struggle
to meet our long-term goals.

By forming a personal philosophy, you create an invitation to exist intentionally and

catapult yourself towards your vision of a fulfilled life.

Whether you’re reinventing yourself or about to shift careers, a personal philosophy

gives you the blueprint to ensure that you approach everything in life with intention,
regardless of your current circumstances.

Does the idea of a personal philosophy resonate with you? Then keep reading to
discover how to form a personal philosophy and create a life worth living.
What Is a Personal Philosophy?
Creating a personal philosophy is the secret ingredient to living a deep and
meaningful life of purpose.

It’s a set of principles, unique to you, that guide you towards achieving your greatest
dreams and aspirations.

A personal philosophy is a means of matching your thought patterns with your values,
goals, and overall life vision. It’s the stepping stone towards living in alignment with
your truth and reaching your highest self.

An article from the Journal of Space Philosophy explains that every human being has a
personal philosophy that’s influenced by genetics, environment, and a lifetime of
learning.

In this philosophical piece, Robert Krone suggests that:

“A small percentage of humans have explicitly documented their own philosophy as an

analysis of their own value systems, or to understand the values, sources, and
influences on their beliefs over time.”

ROBERT KRONE
Philosophy, in general, provides you with the means to deepen your understanding and
improve your intelligence. Personal philosophies provide motivational guidelines that
nurture expansive thinking and soul searching, ultimately enhancing your quality of life.

7 Questions to Guide You When Forming Your Personal

Philosophy
Personal philosophies can be a wonderful ignition for your self-discovery journey.
Devote this time to you, and let yourself be vulnerable in this period of discovery.

Below you will find an outline of 7 questions that will ignite inspiration and guide your
mind towards new paradigms of thought.

Take some time on each to really dig deep and do the work.
1. What Are Your Core Values?

Begin by asking yourself, “What are my core values?”

Understanding your core values offers you an insight into your true identity and sets the
bar for establishing core moral principles.

What values drive your actions?

As you write out each value, attach a definition to each and add a line or two about how
you envision aligning your actions with your values.

For example:

Integrity

“I live and work with honor. I believe that everything I do must come from a place where
honesty springs up like the headwaters of the river. In decisions and actions, I allow
integrity to be my first and foremost directive. I do not expect to be perfect at this. I do
expect integrity to be a constant ideal.”
By outlining your core values, you are building the foundations of your truth. Once you
understand what you hold close to your heart, you can then discover ways to align your
actions and values to reach your goals.

2. What Are Your Most Deeply Rooted Beliefs?

Take a moment to venture inwards.

Dive deep into the core of your being and unearth the beliefs rooted in your soul. These
can be associated with your worldviews or that in which you have great faith.

Share or write down two or three of your most potent, deeply-rooted beliefs that are
ingrained into your soul. These deeply-rooted beliefs are the ones that influence your
perception and how you view the world.

When you react to a situation, rather than consciously responding, it’s your deeply-
rooted belief system, crafted from your upbringing and life experiences, that triggers
you to act, often without thinking.
Outlining these beliefs for your personal philosophy allows you to truly understand what
you stand for and, in turn, allows you to create life guidelines that are rooted in your
truth. It’s like planting a seed of sincerity and watching it grow as you evolve.

3. What is Your Life’s General Philosophy?

Now that you’ve taken some time to explore your core values and fundamental beliefs,
it’s time to outline your general philosophy for life.

For this step, take a look at the principal thoughts which have blossomed from the
experience, knowledge, and wisdom you have gained so far.

The basis of identifying a general philosophy starts with one question:

What is the meaning of life?

According to Joseph Campbell,“The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be.

Being alive is the meaning.”
This means that the answer to this question is different for every single person.

From the second we are born into this earth, we each have a unique experience
influenced by many internal and external elements.

The meaning of life varies according to different philosophies, but this question is for
you and you alone.

Write down what you believe your life’s general philosophy is – what you believe your
life’s meaning is – and allow this to guide you down the path towards success,
satisfaction, and fulfillment.

4. What Are the Metrics by Which You Measure Success?

We all want to succeed in life, but understand that success looks different to everyone.

You may believe that you have ‘made it’ if you are excelling in your career. If you’re more
family-orientated, you may feel that you’ve made it when you have created a beautiful
family surrounded by love.
Regardless, by understanding success as it relates to you, you can inspire to integrate
this definition into your personal philosophy and set out the actions you need to align
with in order to achieve it.

Ask yourself – what does success mean to you?

The answer to this intuitive question empowers you to define success broadly, in the
context of your life and in relation to the unique challenges you face.

You can dissect this into different timeframes and metrics such as daily, annually, or
even a lifetime measure of success.

Outline how you hope to achieve success using the most meaningful metric for you.

For example:

What does success mean to you?

“When this life comes to an end I will measure success by how open my mind has
remained and how soft my heart still is.”

5. What Do You Feel Is Your Life’s Purpose?

It’s not uncommon for people to not yet know their life’s purpose.

Whether it relates to your career, passions, or relationship with others, each of us has a
reason as to why we are here, on earth – but we might not yet know it.

Finding purpose in life can be difficult for some yet easy for others. It may take weeks,
years, or even a lifetime. But once you have an understanding of what this purpose is
you can live each day intentionally, consistently doing the things that are in alignment
with your truth.

You can choose to add this step in or leave it out; it’s totally up to you. If you are
exploring this step, see if you can write up no more than three sentences about what you
sense your life’s purpose to be.

To make things even more simple, make the statement high-level, and less specific.
For example:

What do you feel is your life’s purpose?

“My purpose in life is to provide as much love as I can to those around me. I want to
enrich my immediate environment and community. I want to leave the world a better
place than when I arrived in it.”
You can take this exercise further by developing a full personal purpose statement.

A study on purpose, hope, and life satisfaction by the Journal of Positive Psychology
states that when individuals, no matter what age they are, identify with a purpose in life,
they experience greater life satisfaction.

Once you feel that you know your purpose, you can translate these inspiring and
actionable guidelines into your personal philosophy. This in turn allows you to lead your
life, nurture your relationships and achieve your goals with a sense of gratification.

6. What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

As with everything in life, we embody both strengths and weaknesses and translate
these into everything we do.

Identifying each of these can attribute great value to your life, and help you understand
where you already excel and where you can improve.

So ask yourself, “What am I good at?”

What are my greatest strengths in life?

Take some time to learn how to identify your strengths. While your strengths may
change as your work life and circumstances shift, start with today.
Create a list and layout the great traits that allow you to elevate your everyday life and
allow you to thrive.

For example, you may excel at what you do for a living, you may have a heart of gold that
supports others, you may be the first person people call if they need help creating a
PowerPoint presentation, and so on.
By adding your greatest strengths into your personal philosophy, you can identify how
to take advantage of the skills that enhance your life and do more of what you are good
at.

In fact, Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that doing something

that you love, whether that’s work or play, invites you into a flow state.

It’s from this state of flow that you tap into your creativity, encourage free-thinking, and
in turn increase your chances of success.

7. What Do You Need in Life?

As the final question for guiding your personal philosophy, ask yourself, “What is
essential in my everyday life?”

Each of us has our own unique needs and when these are met, we are the best version of
ourselves.

List the needs that you require at this moment in time. Next to each need, attach an
intention for how you intend to meet these.

For example:

What do you need in life?

“In my day-to-day life, I search for peace amidst the chaos. In every moment, I sprinkle
a sense of calmness onto all situations as it’s from this place of serenity that I can make
conscious choices that are beneficial for me, others around me, and the environment.
Even when I have no control over outside circumstances, I always have a choice to
venture inwards where true peace resides.”
Maybe you are unsure as to what you truly need from this lifetime. That’s okay. Why not
first figure out how to discover your passion and take it from there?

When we lead from the heart, we can never go wrong.

Philosophy in Practice: Examples of Personal

Philosophy
We’ve shared the questions to ask yourself when forming your own personal philosophy,
now let’s take a look at some examples of how they might look:

1. Failure Inspires Positive Change

This example is a life philosophy someone might create to remind themselves to

embrace challenges and the unavoidable setbacks they will face on their path to
success. It will guide and inspire them to keep going, especially when things get tough.

Nothing worth having in life ever comes easy. It’s only natural to experience failure
along the way when pursuing your dreams.

Keep in mind that failure is not the end. Rejection is only redirection that can support
you on this journey called life.

No matter whether it’s in your personal, career, or romantic life—failure welcomes

learning curves and can even be an invitation down the path less taken.

The path to success is never a straight line. It involves frustration, setbacks, replanning,
but most importantly, continued effort. And from there springs ultimate satisfaction and
achievement.

Core values:

 Commitment
 Courage
 Resilience

2. Always Act From a Place of Integrity

Someone with this life philosophy wants to remain true to themselves in all situations,
and build authentic connections to enrich their lives.

When you make decisions based on honesty you can stand up for what you believe in
while also staying humble.

It’s from this place that you can stay rooted in your truth while also staying open-
minded to others’ perceptions.

Treat every interaction as an opportunity to discover something new. You might just
find learning something from welcoming a different outlook.
Core values:

 Integrity
 Open-mindedness
 Honesty

Take the First Step Towards True Purpose

Discovering the right direction in life isn’t always easy. And often it’s not about the
destination but the beautiful, complicated, and sometimes painful journey along the
way.

It may take exploring different avenues before you discover and unleash your true
purpose. By dedicating time to understanding your values, beliefs, and goals through
developing a personal philosophy, you’ll get there.

One step at a time.

And when you do, I promise it’ll all be worth it.