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Module 1 · Waypoint 1

Take Your Bearings

“What am I made of?”
Your X Factor sits at the crossing of two axes. This waypoint is where you establish both of them properly — with evidence, not impressions.
~2–2.5 hrs3 exercisesTreasure Map: Coordinates
Fill this in as you go — it saves itself

You arrived with two columns from the assessment. By the end of this waypoint those columns will be shorter, sharper, and defensible — each entry traceable to something that actually happened.

1.3

The Interest Inventory

12 min

Interest is not the same as enjoyment. You enjoy plenty of things you would never build a life around. What you are looking for is the thing you return to without being paid, praised or asked.

The rule for this exercise

Every interest you list has to come with a moment. A date, a room, a piece of work — something that actually happened.

If you cannot produce a moment, it is an aspiration rather than an interest. Aspirations are fine, but they do not go on this list.

What it is — then the moment that proves it.
What it is — then the moment that proves it.
What it is — then the moment that proves it.
If you are stuck

What do you read about when nobody is measuring your output? What conversation makes you lose track of the hour? What did you do at fourteen that you would still defend today?

Not the topics — the thing underneath them.
1.5

The Abilities Audit

12 min

Enthusiasm is not ability. The fire metaphor cuts both ways: plenty of people burn hot at something they are mediocre at, and plenty are quietly excellent at something that bores them. This column is about capability, judged from the outside.

The rule for this exercise

Every ability needs a witness. Name someone who has seen it and would say so without being prompted — a colleague, a client, a board member, someone who worked for you.

"I think I'm good at this" does not survive the audit. "Three people have asked me to do this for them" does.

What it is · how you got it (natural, learned, developed) · who can attest to it.
What it is · how you got it · who can attest to it.
What it is · how you got it · who can attest to it.
Honest self-assessment
1 = competent. 5 = people come to you specifically for this.
Ability one
Ability two
Ability three
The one that is easy for you, so you assume it is easy for everyone. It usually isn't.
1.7

The Fear Audit

10 min

Fear rarely announces itself. It shows up as a shortened list, a hedged answer, an ability you left off because claiming it would mean being held to it. Name it here and it loses most of its editing power.

Not "failure" — the specific version. Being found out. Being ordinary. Starting over at this age. Being right and ignored anyway.
A role not applied for, a conversation not had, a project handed to someone else.
How it shows up in my work
Tick what is true. Honesty here is worth more than a clean-looking page.
Add it now. This is the entry that usually matters most.
Waypoint 1 complete

Your coordinates are set

Two axes, evidenced. That is the foundation, and nothing later in the course asks you to rebuild it.

Waypoint 2 turns to direction: your values, and whether the life you are currently running actually agrees with them.