Friday, January 6th, 2023

Discoveries in Use of the Freedom Compass

Surprised by the results, I’ve filled out and hung up a “Freedom Compass” in my office, which I explained last Tuesday.

The Desire Zone

I’ve discovered “true north,” where passion and proficiency meet, for me, lies in writing, marketing, and organization. These are the skills I’m able to make a significant contribution and feel energized. Why? I’ve spent the better part of my life doing them. Also, I’ve managed to learn much about marketing in business thanks to Business Made Simple, and have come to love doing it.

The Disinterest Zone

Video editing, updating websites, which I consider also graphic design and photo editing, and emailing I’m proficient at doing, thus can be a significant help with — but by no means do they excite me. Tell me to design a website wireframe, however, and we lean into marketing, my jam.

The Distraction Zone

What distracts me is my passion for music, reading, and reflection. They’re important, certainly, but they don’t help people nearly as much as I can by organizing a production, for example. Here’s a related quote:

A scholar made is a soldier spoiled.

In addition, the philosopher’s school is a hospital. That is, one shouldn’t study and reflect for pleasure — it should be for making you stronger. After three years of consistent daily study, it’s time to come to battle.¹

The Drudgery Zone

Finally, the drudgery zone: Product development, coding, and recording. With WASDE still not complete (see November’s update), I’ve realized these are tasks I’m neither proficient nor passionate in doing. It’s like pulling teeth to get me in front of a microphone or camera; I’ve never managed to understand coding (it’s too much like math to me); and product development is an endeavor that requires both of these things. If I’m to complete WASDE, I’ll need to bear through this somehow, so we shall see if Free To Focus offers solutions.

I’m proud of the films I’ve made, but my getting up to fool around with cameras or plan extensively in using them are long over, at least for right now. (That’s why the freedom compass isn’t fixed, I should mention.)

The Development Zone

An additional zone, Zone X, so Hyatt deems it, contains tasks I’m neither passionate nor proficient; nevertheless, I’m pushing myself to give them a shot and become so eventually. Performing, social posting, and blogging. I want to be able to get comfortable in front of a camera and a live audience; I want to be comfortable posting to social media; and I want to blog, so I can document my journey and hold myself more accountable. Again, these are little scratches in my head for what I should do, so I am.

“More Specifically…”

Speaking of transitional devices (see the caption above), allow me to share an example, which answers last week’s question: How am I going to use the results of the Freedom Compass to single out my Quadrant II tasks, the important but not urgent, of Covey’s time management matrix?

Given the results, I am going to start self-identifying as a comedian — among other things — putting these tasks first, developing a comedian’s habits.² This might seem random, considering all I’ve written. But I spent my entire life learning anything but performing to ensure I’d be able to perform — a joke in itself — regardless if I’m cast or accepted. To explain further is an article for another time.

For now, I’ll say becoming a performer is almost certainly my Life’s Task, a concept by Robert Greene you can read about in his Mastery or the Daily Laws during the month of January.

So writing jokes is a fun process for me (it’s quite similar to songwriting; another soon article) and making people laugh has always garnered joy; but I need to develop the skill to perform if anything I write will reach the light of day (except perhaps this).

“But isn’t music performing, too, performing?” Yes, but that’s where the compass comes in. I’m not quite proficient at guitar (hence it being in the distraction zone); not to mention recording is involved (my drudgery zone).

So, although recording is in my drudgery zone, I’ll need to bear through it — for now — if I’m to perform to an online audience. Similarly, with WASDE.

After this process, I have to say the following:

As there’s clarity in knowing what you’re not doing (a recurring theme in the Getting Things Done methodology), likewise, there’s clarity in accepting what you don’t like to do or aren’t good at doing.³

The Freedom Compass, in summary, is helping me come to terms with what I can contribute to others and am passionate for. “The feeling of contribution is happiness” Alfred Adler said, and should act as a guiding star for our lives. Indeed, true north.

1. Thank you, 2020. God knows who I’d be if the world didn’t slow down. ↩
2. For more on developing habits by first self-identifying as someone, try Atomic Habits by James Clear. ↩
3. Fun fact: College taught me about cameras and production in my final year. Woo, film school. ↩