--- title: "Morning Questions" id: "4690" type: "post" slug: "morning-questions" published_at: "2014-12-01T03:21:57+00:00" modified_at: "2015-03-09T03:21:09+00:00" url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/morning-questions/" markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/morning-questions.md" excerpt: "In the post about my Evening Routine I shared the questions I ask myself as I wrap up the day and do some quick journaling. Along the way the evening questions inspired the idea of questions for my Morning Routine......" taxonomy_category: - "Productivity" taxonomy_post_tag: - "journaling" - "questions" - "routine" --- [Skip to the content](#site-content) [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com) ### Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) Toggle search field - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) # [Morning Questions](https://johnpoelstra.com/morning-questions/) In the post about my [Evening Routine](https://johnpoelstra.com/evening-routine/) I shared the questions I ask myself as I wrap up the day and do some quick journaling. Along the way the evening questions inspired the idea of questions for my [Morning Routine](https://johnpoelstra.com/morning-routine/) journaling. Some of these questions I made up and the rest I took from Donald Miller’s [Storyline Productivity Planner](http://beyondthetodolist.com/story-donald-miller-on-focus-finish-and-living-a-meaningful-story-bttdl058/) (highly recommended). I try to answer to answer each of these, though I don’t always. Some mornings I don’t do any journaling, but instead use the “writing portion” of my morning to prepare blog posts. And then other days the early mornings slips away and no writing happens. I do find that writing, much like the reading portion of my morning routine is centering and clears my head. ## Questions I Usually Answer - What would make today great? - Sometimes just writing it down makes it concrete and more possible - Today I would like to finish: - It’s easy to work on lots of stuff, put out fires, and read lots of email, but it feels really good to finish something–finishing things makes me feel good. - If I could live today over again I would: - This question is from the Storyline Productivity Planner and is kind of a mind-bender. - The idea of this question is to pretend the day is over and you are looking back on it in satisfaction. What would be the things that would have made the day satisfying or fulfilling. - Things I get to enjoy today: - It’s easy to see the day ahead with dread or all the things must get done. - Acknowledge or plan some things into the day that will make it enjoyable. ## Questions to Get Really Clear on What I Will and Won’t Do Today I don’t always make it this far. It’s also a section I recently added that I’m playing with. #### John Poelstra John Poelstra coaches directors in finance and software. Trained through the Co-Active Training Institute, he has coached for more than 10 years, with over 520 clients and 3,150 sessions, including people at well-known Fortune 100 companies. In over 30 years of professional experience, he spent 25 in technology and finance: software testing, project management and team leadership at Red Hat and Dell/EMC, and finance as a bank auditor at Wells Fargo and a CPA at Grant Thornton. He hosts The John Poelstra Show podcast and is based in Portland, Oregon. [Author archive](https://johnpoelstra.com/author/john-poelstra/) [Author website](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146) November 30, 2014 [Productivity](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/productivity/) [journaling](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/journaling/) , [questions](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/questions/) , [routine](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/routine/) [Previous post](https://johnpoelstra.com/prototyping-wasting-time/) [Next post](https://johnpoelstra.com/2015-january/) ### Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](/morning-questions/#respond) ### John Poelstra [https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756](https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756) ### Work With Me I coach directors in finance and software who want to prioritize, delegate, and lead with clarity. Start with One Conversation, a complimentary 60-minute coaching conversation. [See how I work](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) ### Subscribe to Podcast [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1) [Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [by Email](https://subscribebyemail.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [RSS](https://johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) ### Links - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) - [Coaching](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) ### Subscribe to Podcast [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1) [Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [by Email](https://subscribebyemail.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [RSS](https://johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) © 2026 [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com/) — Powered by [WordPress](http://www.wordpress.org) Theme by [Anders Noren](https://andersnoren.se) — [Up ↑](#)