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Note to Self /

Horizon

There's a thing called a 'time horizon'—a point in the future when a project finishes, a process ends, an investment pays off.

It’s a bit of a weird term. The nature of a horizon is that you never actually get there. No matter how far you travel, it stays off in the distance. By definition it’s impossible to reach.

Building big ideas can feel the same. Infinite possibilities, expanding scope, an ever-growing list of things you could do, should do, would do. No guarantee you’ll ever get to where you want to go.

It can be hard to be decisive. Where to start, what to build, what matters most now.

And when you’re not decisive, overwhelm and procrastination creep in.

So lower your eyes. Stop looking to the horizon and pick a point in the near distance.

Ask: What would it look like if we had to deliver by …
… the end of the day
… the end of the week
… the end of next week?

Now you’re making decisions, and making progress.

You're rethinking what's actually possible and necessary right now. Resetting expectations. Finding creative constraints.

You're getting the most important things off the wall, out of the deck, out of your head, and into the world where you can find out if they actually work.

You’re identifying the signals you need to keep moving in the same direction or change course.

It keeps you honest, limiting how far you can stray before testing your ideas, reducing the risk of wasting time, energy, and resources on the wrong thing.

And it builds momentum. Small wins along the way worth celebrating—easy to miss when your eyes are fixed on the horizon.

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