The pilot’s navigation tool that makes sense for your own life

How you can use a framework for pilots to make sure you’re on track to hit your goals.

Every Sunday (ahem — so, like, 60% of Sundays) I have a little ritual where I check in to make sure I’m on the right path.

The pilot’s navigation tool that makes sense for your own life

I use a framework called the 1-in-60 rule. If I had to give you one guide to living a happy life, I think I’d give you this one.

The 1-in-60 rule…

… is a framework pilots use for navigation. It means that for every one degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its target destination by one mile for every 60 miles flown

The thesis is, the further you go, the further away from your goal or destination you get.

I’ve found this is true in life, too — if you don’t track your progress consistently, you’ll veer off course. So often we obsess over a number, like $1m in net worth, 1m subscribers, $10k in monthly income, that we can forget the bigger picture.

So, how do you make sure you’re on the right path?

You grab yourself a nice big glass of red. You sit down to some music (I like instrumental). You open your computer. Then you ask yourself some questions.

Here are a couple I ask myself:

  • Am I happy doing what I am doing right now?
  • Looking back at last week, how much of my day was spent doing things I actively enjoyed? How’d that compare to the week before?

Then I throw all those answers and questions in Evernote. It turns out it’s a lot harder to get lost when you’re constantly looking at the map.

Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t.