The ObservatoryThe next small step
Adjust the direction of your life, not with a grand goal, but with a small next step you actually take.
How it works
- Feel the directionWrite
- Where you standChoose
- Shrink the stepWrite
- Book it inWrite
You don't need to know where your whole life is going. You only need to feel which way it is pulling. Start there.
Exercise in 4 steps, about 9 minutes. Doing it is part of Premium, which you try free for 7 days with no card. With Premium your answers are saved so you can pick up where you left off and look back at what you wrote.
Try PremiumThe rest of the text and the exercise are part of Premium. You try everything for 7 days with no card, and can cancel whenever you like. Sign in if you already have an account.
Why does it work?
Concrete goals produce better results than vague goals and than the instruction to simply do your best. This is a core finding in goal-setting research, and for new, complex tasks, close sub-goals help (Locke & Latham 2002). Making the step small applies the same thinking, with the same graded logic as behavioral activation. The format itself is untested.
Account, your first assessment with the hexagon and one new measurement every quarter are free. The rest is part of Premium: SEK 99 a month or SEK 699 a year, VAT included.
Read more
Best possible self
Write a future you in which things have gone as well as realistically possible, after hard work, not luck.
Tool10 minThe big crossroads
A recurring tool for the big crossroads — the job, the move, the relationship — which weighs the options against your own criteria rather than the mood of the day
Exercise10 minAn action that counts
Turn a value you carry into a concrete step this week.