A client wants a practical way to compare daily intentions with the effort they make. Marshall Goldsmith daily questions offer a brief daily review using client-written active questions, one-to-ten effort scores, and a listener who does not judge. Your role is to help the client set up that routine while leaving the decisions about effort with them.
Those numbers need the client’s explanation, including the circumstances surrounding effort on any given day. A rating cannot tell you whether an outcome improved or why a particular day was difficult. How to Review Scores in Coaching Sessions connects that record with the client’s interpretation and next step.
TL;DR
Begin with three or four questions about the client’s chosen priorities, define both scoring endpoints, and arrange a daily check with someone who listens without judgment. Use the coaching conversation to explore the circumstances behind the record, check whether the questions remain useful, and let the client choose their next step. Avoid treating scores as performance targets, letting someone else set priorities, or keeping questions after their purpose has passed; the client’s interpretation belongs alongside the numbers. Adjust wording, list length, descriptive notes, and check arrangements to fit the client’s language, schedule, self-rating style, and preferred structure while keeping questions focused on effort.
What Are Marshall Goldsmith Daily Questions?
A client may have clear priorities but still struggle to describe the effort they put toward them each day. Marshall Goldsmith daily questions are client-written prompts for rating effort on chosen priorities using a one-to-ten scale. His caller asks the questions and listens without judgment, as described in Goldsmith’s account of Six Daily Questions.
Daily Questions are a short self-review repeated each day, distinct from Goldsmith’s separate six-question coaching model.
How Do Active and Passive Questions Differ?
Passive questions ask about a state or outcome; active questions ask clients to assess their own effort. Neither score establishes cause or guarantees change. Neutral wording leaves the assessment with the client; asking powerful questions in coaching requires the same care with phrasing.
| Passive question | Active version | What the client owns |
|---|---|---|
| “Do you have clear goals?” | “Did you do your best to set clear goals today?” | Effort clarifying goals |
| “Were you happy today?” | “Did you do your best to be happy today?” | Effort toward happiness |
| “Was today meaningful?” | “Did you do your best to find meaning today?” | Seeking meaning |
| “Were you engaged today?” | “Did you do your best to be engaged today?” | Participation effort |
The Six Daily Questions for Engagement
A client who is unsure what to ask can begin with examples and decide which priorities fit. Goldsmith’s six engagement questions offer a starting point clients can adapt, rather than a required list.
- Clear goals: “Did you do your best to set clear goals today?”
- Goal progress: “Did you do your best to make progress toward your goals today?”
- Finding meaning: “Did you do your best to find meaning today?”
- Personal happiness: “Did you do your best to be happy today?”
- Positive relationships: “Did you do your best to build positive relationships today?”
- Daily engagement: “Did you do your best to be engaged today?”
The figures refer to improvements across the six engagement areas. Goldsmith’s own reported results say 34% improved in all six, 66% in at least four, and 91% in at least one. These are Goldsmith’s reported results, not an independent effectiveness guarantee.
How to Set Up Daily Questions With a Client
The client names the priorities for the list and turns them into active questions that ask whether they did their best. Help them define one as their least effort and ten as their best effort on each priority.
A Daily Listener
A daily listener asks the questions and listens without judgment, while the client supplies the scores. Schedule a coaching conversation to discuss the record and the circumstances around those scores.
How Long Should a Client’s Daily Questions List Be?
Goldsmith reports having 43 questions, while some coaching clients use three or four; there is no correct number. Recommend three or four initially, then let the client add, remove, or rewrite questions after reviewing their usefulness. A broader library of powerful coaching questions supports other session purposes; keep this routine focused on the client’s daily priorities.
How to Review Scores in Coaching Sessions
Daily scores give coaching conversations material for discussion, rather than grades, diagnoses, or proof of progress. Start the session with coaching check-in questions that invite the client’s account of what shaped their recent scores.
Ask what the client notices across recent days, which question feels unclear, and what context affected effort. Check whether the list still fits their priorities, then invite their interpretation and chosen next step.
Common Pitfalls in Daily Questions Coaching
Daily questions coaching can lose its purpose when someone else chooses the priorities or judges the answers.
Question Lists and Scoring
Question lists and scoring need to support reflection on the priorities the client has chosen.
- Long or unclear lists: A brief starter list and specific scale meanings keep the daily check focused.
- Scores as targets: Ratings need context and discussion rather than becoming performance targets.
- Outdated questions: The client can retire prompts that no longer fit their priorities.
How to Adapt Daily Questions to Different Clients
Daily Questions can accommodate different schedules, languages, preferences for structure, self-rating styles, access to listeners, and changing priorities. Offer fewer questions, clearer scale anchors, or descriptive notes beside scores; written check-ins may suit another schedule. Let the client choose familiar wording while keeping each question active and aligned with current priorities.
Harsh Self-Rating
Harsh self-rating may call for clearer scale meanings or descriptive notes beside scores. Use mindset coaching questions to discuss the client’s interpretation while leaving the rating and choice of adjustments with them.
Conclusion
At your next session, help the client choose three or four questions tied to priorities they want to review each day. Agree what one and ten mean for effort, then arrange a daily check with someone who listens without judgment.
Schedule a coaching review so the client can explain the scores alongside the circumstances that shaped them. Help the client decide whether the questions, scale, or check arrangements still fit their current priorities and preferred level of structure. Leave the interpretation and next step with the client.
Key Takeaways
Daily Questions practice centers on choices the client makes about effort, reflection, and what happens next.
- Client priorities: The person answering decides which parts of life belong on the list and when those priorities change.
- Effort wording: Active questions ask about trying, so an outcome alone cannot explain the rating a client gives.
- Shared understanding: Clear meanings at both ends of the scale give you a basis for discussing the client’s ratings.
- Quiet listening: The daily check partner asks each question and listens without judgment, while the client supplies an effort score and keeps responsibility for interpreting what that number means.
- Context matters: Daily scores invite discussion about circumstances and interpretation; they do not prove that an outcome improved.
- Flexible routine: The client can shorten or revise the list and choose a check format that fits their circumstances.
Daily reflection records sit alongside session notes, client goals, and the actions you discuss during your regular coaching conversations. Simply.Coach offers client management software for coaches so you can keep client goals, notes, forms, actions, and progress organized in one place.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the daily questions process?
Daily Questions is Marshall Goldsmith's daily reflection process for rating effort on personal priorities. The client writes active questions, scores each from one to ten every day, and shares answers with a listener who offers no judgment.
What are the 6 questions in the Daily Question Process?
The six prompts ask whether the client did their best to set clear goals, make progress toward goals, find meaning, be happy, build positive relationships, and be engaged. Each asks whether the person did their best, with effort rated on a one-to-ten scale.
Who designed the Daily Questions Process?
Marshall Goldsmith developed the Daily Questions process described in his own account. He writes questions around personal priorities and uses a caller who listens without judgment. In coaching, clients choose their own priorities, wording, and scores rather than copying his whole list.
What is the difference between active and passive questions?
A passive question asks about a state or outcome, such as whether someone was happy. An active question asks whether they did their best to be happy. The active score reflects self-rated effort; it does not explain every influence on the outcome or guarantee change.
How can a coach use Daily Questions with a client?
Help the client choose priorities and write active questions about effort. Agree what one and ten mean, arrange a daily check with a listener, and schedule a review. The client owns the questions and ratings; the coach facilitates setup and discussion.
How many daily questions should a client start with?
Three or four questions are a manageable starting point. Goldsmith reports having 43, while some of his coaching clients use only three or four. There is no correct number; let the client add, remove, or rewrite questions after reviewing their usefulness.
How should a coach review daily question scores?
Ask what the client notices across several days, which question feels unclear, and what circumstances affected effort. Check whether the list still reflects current priorities. Treat scores as material for conversation, leaving the client to interpret the record and choose a next step.