20 Self-Reflection Writing Prompts

by: Brian Wasko

I don’t know what to write about!

Every writing teacher is familiar with that complaint, so  here’s a list of writing prompts designed to give students something to write about.
They all require some self-reflection, maybe a little soul-searching. I imagine these would be effective for journal writing, but there’s lots of creative writing potential here.
I don’t claim that all of these are original, by the way. Some are oldies but goodies.

Self-Reflection Writing Prompts

1. What would you do if you had $100 to spend today? What if you had $10,000? How about a $1 million? What does this say about you?
2. What’s one thing you’d change about your appearance if you could? What’s one character trait you’d change?
3. Take a reader through your idea of a perfect day.
4. If you were King of the World for a single day, what would you do?
5. If a magic genie gave you one wish (with the rule that you can’t wish for more wishes!), what would you wish for?
6. What’s your idea of the perfect job?
7. If your life had a soundtrack, like a movie, what songs would you include? Why?
8. If you could instantly be the best in the world at anything, what would you choose?
9. If you could change places with anyone for a single day, who would you pick and why?
10. What are the top five qualities you would look for in a spouse?
11. If your house was on fire and you could only save three possessions, what would you take?
12. If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have three books, what books would you choose and why?
13. If you knew you had only year to live, what would you do? What if you only had one day? One hour?
14. What would you attempt to do if you were guaranteed not to fail?
15. If you could go back in time two or three years, what advice would you give yourself?
16. What is your mission in life?
17. If you could go back and relive one day of your life, which day would it be and why?
18. Describe your alter ego — someone who is your exact opposite.
19. If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?
20. If you could get the answer to any question, what would you ask?