This Is Where You're Going

Trajectory, as author James Clear notably puts forth in his now-seminal work Atomic Habits, is the greatest indicator of where one's actions are leading. "You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory," Clear states, "than with your current results." If you were to do only and exactly what your present daily routine presents, where are you most likely to land?

Stoic texts propose similar considerations. Book VIII of Meditations finds Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius illuminating our nature-endowed ability to anticipate the future by way of conscious intention, offering an analogous arrow as a reference point. "An arrow moves in one way, the mind in another," he begins. "And yet the mind, when it takes good care and concentrates on the question in hand, is no less direct in its flight and sure in hitting its mark."

Our daily practices could be seen as that of taking aim (an archer drawing back his bow, narrowing his vision on the target ahead), the intended destination (our preferred realities) being the target. Our task, as Aurelius iterates, is to concentrate on the question in hand—any matter of most consequence to our present and perpetual thriving.

When we say we can't predict the future, what we likely mean is to say that we can't precisely predict whatever it is that others will do in that future, the external factors that may arise and impact, or disrupt, and so on.

What we can predict, however, with the aid of honest introspection, is our likely placement in that future—our position. Clear Thinking author Shane Parrish stresses that "ordinary moments determine your position, and your position determines your options."

If you want to know where you're going, look no further at whatever it is that you're doing right now, across the spheres of your life; act or iterate accordingly.

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