Modern Compass Newsletter

Hello there,

Welcome to the final days of 2025. You made it! This issue I wanted to speak to something many of us will be spending a bit of time on the next few weeks doing some version of year-end reflection. You’ll think about what you accomplished in 2025, what you didn’t, and what you want to do differently in 2026. If you’re like me in past years, you might feel disappointed looking back at certain aspects, like you were really busy, and It flew by, but it’s difficult to actually point to what mattered.

Here's the problem with how most people approach this: You jump straight to setting goals without understanding their navigation patterns from the prior year. You pick what sounds good rather than what actually needs attention, or what other adjacent things may be required for that resolution or goals effectiveness or success.

There's a better way. Map who you are, before deciding who you become. Use four key directions to see where you've been investing your energy and where you've been avoiding it. That pattern reveals what actually deserves your focus in 2026.

This is the Modern Compass framework. Within each direction are four layers that build upon each other, but for this issue, you only need to know the four core directions. Relationships, Self, Character, and Trust.

Great, now that you are refreshed on the directions, let me explain how I used and applied this last year. At the end of last year, I decided I wanted to become an author eventually a broader business of applications that serve and stem from concepts in the book. For decades I have contemplated becoming an author, often writing briefly or during downtime at various points in life on ideas about either Personal Growth or Science fiction, and I finally committed to going for it.

For those that don’t know, Modern Compass is a book I started writing in 2023, and picked it back up as my focus for 2025. Before I dove in however, I did something different. I didnt want what happened before to happen again. We’ve all done these things where we break promises and resolutions to ourselves. So I took a bit more time and mapped where I was as a person more or less around the Modern Compass framework (before it was fully fleshed out), and decided who I needed to become to be the author I was envisioning. In large part it was this effort that really set a lot of wheels in motion for me and I want to share my brief story and this activity with you.

Having a good grasp of who you are and what you want to become, can give you very clear indication of what the gap consists of. Of course writing more and developing the right habit for that mattered, but there were other gaps I found as I looked more holistically at myself. A big gap was public speaking, or to be specific, impromptu speaking, the ability to easily and readily explain, and/or sell yourself. I do plenty of presentations virtually for my job, but I have time to prepare my thoughts and what I will say, those aren’t typically that challenging anymore. Speaking without a script or strictly from memory, like a quick pitch, that is another ball game. I knew becoming an author would demand this if I want to be as successful. I.e. book talks, potential podcast, webinar or workshops, and events where I’d need to articulate my ideas very clearly and without a safety net.

So I challenged myself to do more unscripted speaking this year whether that was taking every opportunity I had to say yes to things in my career (and I did on numerous occasion), or developing on my own by doing TikTok posts and Live videos. The extensiveness of mapping myself to who I wanted to become was a game changer this year. I’ve learned a lot and have improved in unscripted speaking as I intended, although plenty more room to grow. Granted not everything provided a return. The TikTok experiment for example was good at developing myself, but led to no return in terms of newsletter subscribers, which is the crucial metric for me outside of writing. This endeavor I consider to be deeply rooted in Character direction of the compass.

Another aspect in this holistic approach I took was networking. I’m good one-on-one, but I’ve avoided larger professional gatherings. As an author, I can’t do that to be successful. So I said yes to opportunities that provided a chance to network more, even if it made me uncomfortable and I was successful at this in 2025. This one was very closely aligned with Relationships direction.

That is bit about my story and how I applied what Im about to show you. I’m sure not all of you are aspiring authors so I wanted to share something much more universal. Many of us set our sights on losing weight or making more money as we chose new years resolutions or aspirations for the next year.

Let’s take losing weight for example. I would suggest asking yourself further and deeper questions, and you’ll do this as part of the activity below if you complete it. If it’s I want to lose weight, ask yourself if you had to pin that to one of the 4 compass directions, which one is driving that feeling or need? Is it to improve self in some way like worth, confidence, or control? Is it improve your attraction and accomplish more within relationships, or simply overcome maybe some inherited character traits that aren’t serving you anymore? If you go so far to find what direction you feel drives that decision, you will undoubtedly find more things encompassing losing weight that need to be part of that focus. For example, if your aim was lose weight so I am more confident. Take it from someone who had very slow growth to confidence, there are multitudes more things that you can and should do that go into confidence than just your weight. I’m not saying don’t focus on weight, but you’d be missing a huge part of the puzzle if confidence was the driver all along.

Making more money is another common resolution, but dig deeper to determine what drives you to that? More autonomy and control over how you spend your days and vacationing? That could fall into self control work. To provide for your family? That could be Relationships. To grow your skills and capabilities? That's Character. For safety and security? That's Trust.

Here's the thing with more money in particular: earning more usually comes with a cost. More hours, more stress, more responsibility. Working extra to provide for your family is noble, but not at the cost of your presence with them. Taking on additional projects for growth might strain the relationships that ground you. Chasing money for security could mean burning yourself out and ignoring what your body is telling you. That's why the directional assessment matters. It's important to balance and assess the full picture. When you understand what's really driving the goal, you can pursue it without sacrificing what actually matters.

That's what directional thinking looks like. You map where you are, identify where you're going, and work on the specific gaps between the two. The activity below helps you do exactly that, see your navigation patterns from 2025 so you can be intentional about where to focus in 2026.

Activity: Direction Check

What This Reveals

You might discover you've done impressive Self work but avoided anything requiring trust in others. You might realize you've built connections but they don't resonate with who you're becoming. You might see that every decision was about optimization and none of it was about authenticity.

Whatever you find, that's your starting point for 2026. Not a list of aspirational goals. A direction worth moving toward.

One last personal experience here. As I worked through this activity myself, I thought about my choice not to explore changing companies this year. Obviously this comes with assumptions about the degree of safety I feel within my job (this will vary by individual), but I had plenty of opportunities to explore despite the rough year IT had with thousands of people laid off. I chose not to entertain them strongly on the belief that I'd rather keep the good gig I have now that allows me space to work on things like this. This decision was a big Trust move. Trust in myself, trust in the career I've built to stay relevant and steady in this AI world, and just a sense of trust in the process.

How was this Issue?

Did this topic or activity spark any insights for you? I’d love to hear how it landed! Share your thoughts here or simply reply to this email: Survey Link

The Greatest Gift is Subscribers

I want to take a moment to thank every new-to-day 1 subscriber. I appreciate you trusting me with delivering value to your inbox once a month. I hope at a minimum, something I’ve sent resonated and got you thinking, believing, or aspiring to something.

If you want to do something for me (although not necessary), 1 of 2 things would be amazing! Reply to this email with feedback or testimonial of something that resonated with you and why, or you tried out one of the activities and helped, or you used my Impulse Wallet app and your experience. Or equally awesome, shoot this link or email to a friend you think would like to subscribe to Modern Compass. [Newsletter Signup Link]

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a prosperous New Year!

Happy Holidays…and Always Follow Your Compass!

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