May 18, 2013

The Best Way To Get Unstuck (The Compass Exercise)

I often create verbal and written exercises for my clients to discover new things about themselves.  I came up with this one a few weeks ago and it has been giving a lot of different people a bunch of break throughs.

Give it a shot and you just might learn something about yourself (Introspection YAY!)

Heads up: it will take you about 15-20 minutes to do properly, but will pay dividends in removing stress from your life and giving you a sense of direction.

Answer each of these five questions, with five separate written responses for each.

1. How can I contribute to the world and make it a better place for others?

(five answers)

2. What habits can I practice to make myself a happier and better person?

(five answers)

3. What can I do today to improve someone’s life?

(five answers)

4. What could I do today to make myself 5% happier?

(five answers)

5. Who currently needs some support from me, and in what way?

(five answers)

So make sure you answer each of the questions, with five answers each (for a total of 25 written responses).

Got it?

Are you sure?

Alright, moving on…

Now I want you to go through all five of the sections and write a big capital  “H” next to the one in each section that you could do the fastest and with the least effort.

Got it? Great.

Next step…

Go through each section and find the response that is the most difficult to implement.  For whatever reason, one of them will feel like it is the most challenging.  Next to these answers I want you to write a capital “C”.

Still keeping up?

Once you have made your decisions, I want you to write up your two lists of H’s and C’s.

As you take a look at your list of H’s, realize that these are your Habits… your short term goals… the things that you have deemed as making you the happiest in the least amount of time.

Your list of C’s are your Challenges… your longer-term goals… your obstacles.

There are a hundred contingencies that I can’t account for through this medium, but I’m guessing that after having completed the exercise, your life seems a little bit clearer.

Are the ‘habits’ a bit TOO easy?  Maybe you need to focus more on integrating challenges into your life to allow yourself to grow.

The final step in this process, is to commit to doing one ‘habit’ and one ‘challenge’ by the end of the week.  I believe in you!

To your success,

Jordan

Jordan Gray
About Jordan Gray

Jordan Gray has been a sex and relationship coach for over 15+ years, with his work reaching over 200 million people worldwide. His writing has been featured in Vogue, GQ, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, and countless other publications around the world. When he’s not working with 1-on-1 coaching clients or writing a new article, he’s most likely to be found reading, chopping wood, or spending time with his wife on a little island off the west coast of Canada.

Blog

Related

See All
Why Entrepreneurs Burn Out And Kill Themselves
Feb 20, 2020
Jordan Gray
Why Entrepreneurs Burn Out And Kill Themselves
Three years ago, I received news that an entrepreneur friend of mine had taken his own life. As it is with most suicides, the initial response was shock… It just didn’t add up. From the outside, things seemed to be going fairly well. He always looked sharp and broadcasted a general energy of optimism. ...
Continue Reading
The 60 Day Radical Self-Care Challenge
Jul 24, 2016
Jordan Gray
The 60 Day Radical Self-Care Challenge
Self-care is often seen as a self-indulgent luxury reserved for people with a high sense of self-importance, and that’s a problem. It's cool to be soooo busy. The societal narrative goes that it's impressive to not have enough time to rest, play, or sleep well. The word 'selfish' has been demonized. The...
Continue Reading
7 Powerful Trust Exercises For Couples
Nov 23, 2015
Jordan Gray
7 Powerful Trust Exercises For Couples
We all know that trust is a fundamental component of every healthy intimate relationship. But what is trust exactly? In the context of relationships, I define trust as having an underlying belief in the reliability and consistency of someone. So, for example, if you and your...
Continue Reading
4 Man-Melting Phrases That Make Him Fall In Love
Feb 17, 2024
Jordan Gray
4 Man-Melting Phrases That Make Him Fall In Love
Words are powerful. With a simple sentence we can bolster, boost, encourage, or strengthen someone…. And with a different choice of words we can shame, crush, undermine, destroy, or decimate.  After releasing my article 5 Types Of Compliments That Melt A Man’s Heart, a few women reached out to me...
Continue Reading
20 Amazing Books I Have Been Recommending To Everyone Lately
Aug 12, 2018
Jordan Gray
20 Amazing Books I Have Been Recommending To Everyone Lately
If you follow my writing, that means that we are probably similar people in one or multiple significant ways (in other words, there's a good degree of probability that we have identical or similar neuroses). People ask me for book recommendations all the time. So today, I'm going to pass along a few...
Continue Reading
How To Fiercely Protect Your Time
Nov 6, 2016
Jordan Gray
How To Fiercely Protect Your Time
Here’s a problem that you haven’t been giving enough thought to… We live in the age of distraction, and your life is full of time vampires. Your beeping cell phone demands your attention. A loose acquaintance that you don’t really know very well reaches out to you on Facebook and asks to grab coffee/lunch/a...
Continue Reading