I wanted to address this how to write useful On-The-Horizon Beacons, as defined in my Life Overview.
Although I'm sure there is the entire gamut of personality types who would try to write their Beacon, the two most common ones I've found are due to people either not knowing what they want to focus on or wanting to be a perfectionist detailing every single detail.
Both sides of the spectrum struggle to put together a reliable Beacon. If someone is not able to focus, they will never take steps in any single direction. They might spend their lives drifting in the wind. However, if someone hyper-focuses on the final picture, to the point of outlining every single detail, they'll spend their life planning and never take a step forward either.
To explain how to break either of these patterns, let's discuss this topic using a map metaphor. For the sake of this discussion, let's say you currently are in Los Angeles. That is your starting state. And you're trying to figure out your Beacon, but you don't know where to place that Beacon on the map.
Now let's take a step back. Why are you trying to place a Beacon? The purpose of the Beacon is to give you a guiding light in figuring out which life path to take to bring you closer to that Beacon. Let's say I know I want to end up in Florida. Do I need to know the address of my destination? Not really? How about the street or even the city? Nope. I also don't need to know Florida. Or even the east coast.
I can start my journey knowing only EAST. With that knowledge and nothing else, I can plot my course and pick a road heading east. Even if it's not the ideal road, it doesn't matter. I could be traveling for hours or even days and still be getting closer to my destination. It might not be the most efficient path, but it's getting you closer, and it's your life journey.
And for all you know, after Day 2 of heading east, you realize Florida isn't where you want to go. Instead, it's New York. Maybe this will result in a slight course correction. Perhaps it changes nothing. Either way, you're still heading in the right direction. Then after Day 4, you're now in the same state as your destination. You're wiser and more mature. You know more about what you want. You know if you're going to be in the city or the country. You know if you're going to be close to water, or in the mountains. As you start getting closer to your Beacon, the details will start coming into finer granularity.
Even if back on Day 2 you realized you wanted to go to Hawaii instead of Florida or New York, there's no harm in that. At least you've already packed your bags started your journey. Ideally, you don't want to make too many 180 turns since that negates your progress. But even if physically you might be driving back and forth, emotionally and mentally you'll be growing from your journey.
The destination still matters, but the important taking those first steps is what matters the most. The rest will fall into place as your journey progresses.
(Written 2019.05.07)
Although I'm sure there is the entire gamut of personality types who would try to write their Beacon, the two most common ones I've found are due to people either not knowing what they want to focus on or wanting to be a perfectionist detailing every single detail.
Both sides of the spectrum struggle to put together a reliable Beacon. If someone is not able to focus, they will never take steps in any single direction. They might spend their lives drifting in the wind. However, if someone hyper-focuses on the final picture, to the point of outlining every single detail, they'll spend their life planning and never take a step forward either.
To explain how to break either of these patterns, let's discuss this topic using a map metaphor. For the sake of this discussion, let's say you currently are in Los Angeles. That is your starting state. And you're trying to figure out your Beacon, but you don't know where to place that Beacon on the map.
Now let's take a step back. Why are you trying to place a Beacon? The purpose of the Beacon is to give you a guiding light in figuring out which life path to take to bring you closer to that Beacon. Let's say I know I want to end up in Florida. Do I need to know the address of my destination? Not really? How about the street or even the city? Nope. I also don't need to know Florida. Or even the east coast.
I can start my journey knowing only EAST. With that knowledge and nothing else, I can plot my course and pick a road heading east. Even if it's not the ideal road, it doesn't matter. I could be traveling for hours or even days and still be getting closer to my destination. It might not be the most efficient path, but it's getting you closer, and it's your life journey.
And for all you know, after Day 2 of heading east, you realize Florida isn't where you want to go. Instead, it's New York. Maybe this will result in a slight course correction. Perhaps it changes nothing. Either way, you're still heading in the right direction. Then after Day 4, you're now in the same state as your destination. You're wiser and more mature. You know more about what you want. You know if you're going to be in the city or the country. You know if you're going to be close to water, or in the mountains. As you start getting closer to your Beacon, the details will start coming into finer granularity.
Even if back on Day 2 you realized you wanted to go to Hawaii instead of Florida or New York, there's no harm in that. At least you've already packed your bags started your journey. Ideally, you don't want to make too many 180 turns since that negates your progress. But even if physically you might be driving back and forth, emotionally and mentally you'll be growing from your journey.
The destination still matters, but the important taking those first steps is what matters the most. The rest will fall into place as your journey progresses.
(Written 2019.05.07)
