Your Compass: finding direction in an age of distraction

Part 1 of 3 in the series: The Compass, The Map, and The Journey

It’s a paradox of our time: we are wealthier, healthier, and more technologically advanced than any society in history, yet more and more of us feel lost and anxious. It’s a defining mood of our modern era, and research backs this up. Various studies show a significant rise in anxiety and depression over the past two decades, particularly among young adults.

What’s striking is how this feeling of being unanchored is not directly correlated with traditional markers of success. Contrary to the belief that wealth and fame should relieve our anxieties, studies suggest they can be negative factors. For example, one study found that 72% of successful entrepreneurs suffer from depression or other mental health concerns. And CEOs may be depressed at more than double the rate of the general public. Overall, research published by Gallup International shows that while happiness rises with income, it tends to plateau or even decline in high-income nations. Wealth can introduce a new set of pressures, shifting the focus from surviving to a more abstract search for meaning.

There are many public examples of this. Take the founder who sells his company for a life-changing sum, only to write an essay titled, "I am rich and have no idea what to do with my life." While extreme, this isn't an isolated case. Research has shown that adolescents in affluent communities can face unique pressures that lead to higher rates of anxiety and depression than their peers from more modest means.

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The truth is, feeling lost doesn’t discriminate. In fact, our common Western success KPIs might even be driving these feelings up. It's a quieter kind of suffering, one that hides behind LinkedIn promotions and curated Instagram feeds.

What’s going on?

The modern culprits are easy to spot. For many, the first act of the day is to reach for a phone. One 2025 study reported that the average person checks their phone as many as 205 times a day, a stunning departure from life just 20 years ago. It’s not just the quantity of this engagement, but the quality. We scroll, we compare, we consume a flood of external content and opinions before we’ve had a moment to check in with ourselves.

But this is only part of the story. Technology simply accelerates more traditional human conflicts: peer pressure, societal expectations, and the well-intentioned but misguided advice from those around us. People project what they think should make us happy, but they do it from their perspective, what would make them happy if they were in our shoes. We try to live up to these external definitions of success, independent of our actual circumstances. Over time, this constant outward orientation chips away at our inner clarity. Instead of acting from a place of intention, we react to the noise.

That’s where The Compass comes in.

It’s the inner work that reconnects us with what matters most, so we can lead our lives from the inside out.

Getting outside can offer the kind of clarity that’s hard to find on a screen.

How do we know what matters? Your core values

One of the most overlooked clues is your own emotional response such as anger, disappointment, or that sting of betrayal you feel when someone’s actions strike you as deeply wrong.

Think about it: when a colleague takes credit for your work, it doesn’t just irritate you, it hurts. This reaction isn’t random. What you’re feeling is the violation of an unspoken, personal value. Perhaps it’s fairness, integrity, or recognition.

Here’s the unlock: We operate as if our core values are universal, but they aren’t. It's a fundamental, default-level assumption we make, and it’s wrong. Your closest friend, your partner, your family, they do not share your exact same value hierarchy. Much of the time we feel anger or disappointment, it’s because someone else did something we believe we wouldn't do, yet for them, their action was perfectly acceptable within their own value system.

Our core values are like emotional fault lines. They are personal, and they help us notice when something’s off. When we take the time to explore them, they become powerful tools for clarity. The tricky part? It’s not just that we don’t pause to name them. It’s that our societal default is often to swallow the emotional hit when our values are violated. To avoid conflict, we suppress the reaction and carry on. We accept the misalignment, until something cracks.

Clearly defined and relatable core values are the first foundational part of your Compass.

What about purpose?

With values as your foundation, the next part of your Compass is a sense of purpose. People often think purpose has to be a grand, world-changing mission. Sometimes it is. But more often, purpose shows up in quieter ways: in how you approach your work, listen to a friend, or handle conflict.

A powerful way to think about this is as an intersection of four key elements:

• Your core values

• Your passions (what you love)

• Your talents (what you are good at)

• A distinct need in the world (your contribution)

  
  

Purpose doesn’t always shout, it often whispers. But once you hear it, it becomes a kind of North Star. In my work, I help people and businesses distill that whisper into a clear statement. Not for a business card, but as a solid anchor to return to when life gets loud. This same clarity benefits organizations, helping them build intentional strategies and a culture that attracts and retains the right people.

Finding The Compass: your guiding principles

Your Compass isn’t complete with just values and purpose. The final component is a set of Guiding Principles for the key domains of your life. These are the arenas where you live out your values and purpose, and while models vary, researchers on well-being consistently point to factors like health, work, relationships, and personal growth.

This is not the map of your journey yet. This is about finding your compass: defining the rules of navigation before you start moving. A Guiding Principle is a simple, proactive statement that serves as a fallback in your daily life. These principles are part of the Compass itself. They are the clear, simple rules that provide a guiding principle in each domain, giving you something to fall back on in the chaos of everyday life.

Closing thoughts

If you're feeling unclear, stuck, or pulled in a thousand directions, it’s not a personal failing. It’s a natural consequence of living in a reactive world without a calibrated inner guidance system. The Compass doesn’t give you all the answers. But it helps you ask better questions. It is the essential first step to defining your map with intention.

In the next post, we’ll move from this inner reflection to outward direction. We’ll discuss The Map: the tool for charting a vision and turning your newfound clarity into meaningful short-term action, using your Compass to guide you along the way.

How aligned is your compass?

Ready to move from reflection to action? Take our quick Compass Alignment Survey. This 5-minute assessment is designed to give you a snapshot of where you're living in alignment with your inner direction and where you might be off-course.

Take the Compass Alignment Survey now & get your results or reach out if you have any questions.