Possibility is not progress.
Do not focus on all the things you can do, could do, or might do.
We are in an era of unprecedented possibility-awareness. It is too much to bear.
Considering everything you could do, is like staring at a spinning compass.
A spinning compass does not propel the craft.
To actually progress, you must:
- Stop spinning the compass.
- Survey your surroundings.
- Begin moving.
These essential tasks are accomplished through the art of orientation:
directing oneself in a sea of possibility.
The Art of Orientation
1. Stopping the compass spinning
By this point in the metaphor, you may have thought to yourself, 'compasses don't spin, if they're working properly.' That's right! They don't! A functioning compass aligns itself to something fixed--something 'true.'
On the highest level, these are your principles, or if you prefer, your ideals.
For me, these include honesty, compassion, truth-seeking, and so forth. If you do not yet have a clear image of the person you wish to become, that person almost certainly lies somewhere in the general direction of your principles.
If you do not know your own principles, just observe the patterns of your own behavior for a while. Write a list of them. What is it you actually do each day? Do you see any trends? How do you feel about those trends? How do you feel about those feelings? This emotional information will help you uncover your principles. No one else can do this work for you--your principles are your own.
Your principles (and your life experiences) may have given you certain aspirations. These aspirations may in turn inspire lower aspirations that contribute to those higher.
For example: my principles and life experiences have given me the aspiration of being a loving father to my one-day children. I have held this aspiration since I was small, feeling the ache of knowing what my own father was not. Who is a loving father? To me, a loving father is also a loving partner. I therefore also aspire to be the best loving partner I can become, which directly serves my aspiration of loving fatherhood.
A compass aligned to your principles and aspirations, allows you to orient yourself within the vastness of possibility.
When I needed to decide what to study after high school, I knew my skills and interests lay with music, mathematics, and philosophy. How to choose?
I simply asked myself which of these paths would take me closer to my aspiration of loving fatherhood?
Mathematics and philosophy, while well-aligned with my skills, I thought carried with them a danger of coldness, of reinforcing my starker tendencies, both by nature of the discipline and from the people I imagined I would befriend along these paths. But if I dedicated myself to music, I would develop in a direction of greater emotional depth and richness, meet people along that path, and grow into that version of myself. With my compass pointed in the direction of fatherhood, the choice became trivial. The best father-version of myself is a musician.
On the smaller, more pragmatic scale
As we find ourselves making smaller and smaller adjustments to our orientation, the compass can start spinning again and the whole process must be repeated in miniature.15 years later, I find my compass spinning when I consider what to study and practice as I try to move toward a career composing music full-time. The spinning compass does not propel the craft; I must reorient myself. What best serves my aspirations? Despite greatly enjoying the study of historical improvisation, that would sidetrack me from where my energy is best pointed at the moment. Indeed, zooming out slightly: perhaps I need to stop studying entirely, as it does not directly serve my aspiration of transitioning to full-time composing work--and focus completely on writing / producing a client-worthy portfolio, which does.
So that's a solid direction--but wait, how do I get where I want to go? We'll explore this key question in the following sections.