Before you figure out what to do, give yourself the opportunity to think.
Rome wasn't built in a day. It wasn't planned in one, either.
I think sometimes we forget that.
We live in a world where we're constantly encouraged to do something. Set a goal. Make a plan. Start a project. Take the next step. Be productive.
And while there's certainly nothing wrong with taking action, I think we sometimes overlook something that should happen before all of that.
Giving ourselves the time and space to think.
Not necessarily to solve anything. Not to immediately come up with a plan. Not even to make a decision.
Just to think.
To sit with an idea. To explore possibilities. To ask questions. To consider what we want, what matters to us, and what something could look like if we gave ourselves the opportunity to really think it through.
That's part of why Point A is so important to me.
What Is Point A?
Point A is a concept within my Major Z framework, which I developed around the philosophy of Direction Before Effort.
Major Z represents a future destination—a vision of what we ultimately want our lives to look like. It's not simply a goal to check off a list. It's a direction that helps us make decisions and navigate the many different areas of our lives.
But before we can begin navigating toward that destination, we need an opportunity to establish some perspective.
That's where Point A comes in.
Point A is your starting position. It's a productive mindset where you give yourself the opportunity to think clearly, consider your circumstances, establish direction, and make intentional decisions about how to move forward.
And here's something I want to emphasize: Point A doesn't necessarily mean you're starting from scratch.
You've already lived a life. You've made decisions, developed skills, experienced setbacks, accomplished things, and learned lessons along the way.
All of that matters.
Point A gives you an opportunity to consider those experiences and how they relate to where you want to go.
It's not about erasing everything you've done and beginning again. It's about becoming more intentional about what happens next.
Not Every Idea Needs an Immediate Action Plan
Have you ever had an idea that you barely gave yourself time to think about before you started figuring out how to make it happen?
Or perhaps you've had an idea that you dismissed almost immediately because you couldn't see how it would work.
I think both situations deserve more attention.
Sometimes we become so focused on the logistics of doing something that we don't give ourselves enough time to explore the idea itself.
What exactly am I envisioning?
Why does this interest me?
What are the possibilities?
Is there something here worth exploring further?
How might this fit into the larger picture of my life?
These aren't necessarily questions you have to answer in one sitting.
Sometimes you need to come back to an idea several times. You may need to learn something new, consider a different perspective, or simply allow your thinking to develop.
And that's okay.
Thinking is not the absence of progress.
Planning, evaluating, questioning, and developing perspective are meaningful parts of the process.
Not everything valuable produces an immediate, visible result.
Point A Is Not About Sitting Still Forever
Now, I want to make an important distinction.
When I talk about giving yourself time to think, I'm not suggesting that we should spend our lives contemplating possibilities without ever doing anything about them.
Point A is a productive mindset.
It isn't a place to wallow in our circumstances, become consumed by self-doubt, or endlessly revisit the same questions without making progress.
It's about creating the mental conditions necessary to think clearly and move intentionally.
Sometimes that might take five minutes.
Other times, you may need an afternoon, several conversations, or multiple planning sessions.
There isn't a universal amount of time that someone should spend at Point A.
The purpose isn't to remain there indefinitely.
The purpose is to develop enough clarity and perspective to move forward with intention.
And you don't have to have everything figured out before you do.
Understanding Where You Are
One of the things I appreciate about Point A is that it creates an opportunity to examine our current position.
And I think this is something we often overlook when we're setting goals.
We become so focused on where we want to go that we don't always take the time to consider where we are.
What responsibilities am I currently managing?
What resources do I have available?
What have I already accomplished?
What am I working toward?
What needs more attention?
Are my current activities aligned with the direction I want my life to take?
These questions aren't intended to make us feel overwhelmed by everything we have going on.
They're intended to help us see the bigger picture.
Within Major Z, I use what I call the B–Y Zone to describe the space where life actually happens.
It's where we navigate responsibilities, make decisions, encounter obstacles, recognize opportunities, and adjust our plans.
It's also where we work with circumstances that we can control and those that we cannot.
Point A gives us an opportunity to step back mentally and examine how we're navigating that space.
Sometimes we may discover that we're already doing things that support our larger direction.
Other times, we may recognize that certain areas of our lives have received very little attention.
Neither realization requires us to immediately overhaul everything.
But both give us information we can use to make more intentional decisions.
You Can Return to Point A
Something else I want people to understand is that Point A isn't a one-time event.
You don't visit Point A, establish your direction, and never return.
Life doesn't work that way.
Our circumstances change. We learn new things. Our responsibilities evolve. We develop new interests, encounter unexpected challenges, and sometimes reconsider decisions we've made.
Even when our overall direction remains the same, the way we navigate toward it may need to change.
That's why I believe returning to Point A is important.
You might return when you're considering a new opportunity.
You might return when something you've been working on no longer seems to fit.
You might return when you're overwhelmed by competing responsibilities.
Or you might return simply because it's time to review what you've been doing and think about what comes next.
I've incorporated this idea into my own approach to strategic planning.
I believe there's value in setting aside intentional time to examine the bigger picture, whether that's through an annual planning session, a quarterly review, or even a brief morning huddle.
Not every session needs to produce a major decision.
Sometimes the value is in recognizing something you hadn't considered before.
Sometimes it's realizing that you're making progress.
And sometimes it's discovering that you need to give something more thought.
The ability to return, reassess, and adjust is part of self-leadership.
Direction Before Effort
One of the reasons I developed Major Z is because I believe we can become incredibly busy without necessarily being intentional.
We can fill our calendars, complete tasks, meet deadlines, and accomplish goals without regularly examining how those activities relate to the lives we're trying to build.
And I'm not suggesting that every task needs to have some profound meaning.
Life includes responsibilities that simply need to be handled.
But I do believe we benefit from having a larger sense of direction.
That's what Major Z is intended to provide.
And Point A helps us establish and revisit that direction.
It creates an opportunity to consider what matters before determining where to direct our attention and effort.
Because effort alone doesn't guarantee that we're moving in a direction we actually want to go.
We can work very hard toward something only to discover that we never really took the time to consider whether it was what we wanted in the first place.
That's why I place so much emphasis on thinking before doing.
Not because action isn't important.
But because direction gives our effort somewhere meaningful to go.
Give Yourself Permission to Think
If there's one thing I hope you take away from this introduction to Point A, it's that you don't have to immediately turn every thought, interest, or idea into an action item.
You can give yourself time to explore something.
You can reconsider an assumption.
You can ask questions without having all the answers.
You can sit with an idea and allow your understanding of it to develop.
And when you're ready, you can begin determining what to do with what you've learned.
Point A isn't about having a perfect plan.
It's about creating the opportunity to think clearly enough to begin making intentional decisions.
You can return whenever you need to.
Because sometimes the most productive thing you can do isn't to add another task to your list.
Sometimes it's to give yourself the time and space to think.
Major Z | Direction Before Effort
