Directional Compass Review
Choose one yearly priority from the broadest view of your life
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 95%
The Directional Compass Review starts above the level of projects and asks what the purpose of life appears to be, what is missing now, and what would cause regret if left unchanged this year. The answers become a concise directional document describing the highest ideal, key relationships, and major roles. That document acts like a fixed point on the horizon: it does not prescribe every move, but it makes forward motion and course correction possible. Review it on a fixed weekly cadence and return to it whenever activity feels frantic or directionless. The output is one highest priority for the year, followed by goals and actions that serve it rather than compete with it.
Origin
Greg McKeown described building the practice from his personalized planner, his weekly centering ritual, and a painful review of whether he had been present for his daughter before she left for Brazil.
Core principles
- 01Direction comes before goals
- 02Important relationships differ exponentially in value
- 03Feeling lost is a signal to recenter
- 04Regular correction matters more than staying perfectly on course
How to run it
- 1
Take the widest view
Step back from current projects and consider your whole life rather than treating the next work goal as the default priority.
Pro tip Ask what you currently understand the purpose of life to be.
Watch out Starting with an existing goal can constrain the answer before the review begins.
- 2
Run the regret test
Imagine reaching the end of life and ask what you might regret not changing this year. Give disproportionate relationships and commitments their true weight.
Pro tip Distinguish thousand-times relationships from merely good opportunities.
- 3
Write the direction
Capture the highest ideal you can articulate, then name the roles and relationships through which it should appear.
Pro tip Keep the centering document short enough to reread regularly.
Watch out Efficiently executing the wrong direction is not progress.
- 4
Select the year's priority
Identify the one highest priority that would close the most important current gap between the document and your life.
Watch out Do not confuse a priority with a list of equally weighted goals.
- 5
Schedule course correction
Review the document at least weekly and return to it whenever you notice frantic, lost, or reactive behavior.
Pro tip Treat feeling lost as a trigger for review rather than as a personal failure.
In the wild
After considering his highest-value relationships and the nature of a life well lived, Greg selected helping himself and his wife Anna feel safely attached and deeply connected as his number one priority for 2024.
→ A broad purpose question became a specific relationship priority that could guide the year.
Common mistakes
Starting with the next project
Choosing the next book, podcast target, or deadline before reviewing the whole life preserves the existing agenda instead of testing it.
Writing a document you never revisit
A compass cannot correct behavior if it disappears into an app or notebook and is not reviewed.
Is it for you?
Best for
People with many attractive opportunities who need one orienting priority for a year.
Not ideal for
Anyone seeking a fixed task plan without first examining what matters across their whole life.
From the transcript
“what is the number one highest priority for the year”
“step back look at your whole life from the broadest possible perspective”
“I will look through that I will read through it”
From the episode
#719: Walk & Talk with Greg McKeown — How to Find Your Purpose and Master Essentialism in 2024