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The Layered Model

The foundational mental model for how you think about your life, your future, your goals, and your daily execution.

Purpose

This system exists to solve one problem:

How do I move from long-term life direction to calm, sustainable daily execution without overwhelm, rigidity, guilt, or backlog collapse?

The answer is a layered system, where each layer has a single responsibility and never attempts to do the work of another layer.

The Core Insight

Most systems fail because they collapse multiple questions into a single layer.

They try to answer, all at once:

  • Who do I want to be?
  • What am I trying to achieve?
  • What should I do today?
  • When will I do it?
  • How am I performing?
  • Why do I feel behind?

When these questions live together, everything becomes heavy. Missing a task feels like failing at life. Planning becomes emotionally loaded. Execution slows down.

This system separates those questions intentionally.

The Six Layers

The system is composed of six layers, stacked from abstract to concrete.

Each layer:

  • Has a single job
  • Produces a clear output
  • Feeds the layer below it
  • Never reaches downward to control execution
Layer Question It Answers Key Output
1. Direction Where am I, and where am I going? Narrative, themes, constraints
2. Goals (GSA) What goals support that direction? Goal/Strategy/Actions definitions
3. Outcomes What concrete results must exist? Trackable outcomes with KPIs
4. Execution What small actions move outcomes forward? Work units (in Todoist)
5. Time When does work actually happen in reality? Calendar events
6. Feedback How do I know if this system is working? Review logs, patterns 
flowchart TB
    subgraph design ["DESIGN SPACE"]
        direction TB
        D["<b>1. DIRECTION</b><br/>Identity • Vision • Themes<br/><i>Where am I going?</i>"]
        G["<b>2. GOALS (GSA)</b><br/>Goal • Strategy • Actions<br/><i>What am I pursuing?</i>"]
        O["<b>3. OUTCOMES</b><br/>Results • Deadlines • KPIs<br/><i>What must exist?</i>"]
    end

    subgraph doing ["EXECUTION SPACE"]
        E["<b>4. EXECUTION</b><br/>Work Units • Tasks<br/><i>What's the next action?</i>"]
        T["<b>5. TIME</b><br/>Calendar • Capacity<br/><i>When does it happen?</i>"]
    end

    subgraph learning ["FEEDBACK LOOP"]
        F["<b>6. FEEDBACK</b><br/>Reviews • Patterns • Adjustments<br/><i>What did I learn?</i>"]
    end

    D --> G --> O --> E --> T
    T --> F
    F -.->|"Informs adjustments"| D
    F -.->|"Refines"| G
    F -.->|"Updates"| O

    style D fill:#7c4dff,stroke:#5e35b1,color:#fff
    style G fill:#536dfe,stroke:#3d5afe,color:#fff
    style O fill:#448aff,stroke:#2979ff,color:#fff
    style E fill:#00bcd4,stroke:#00acc1,color:#fff
    style T fill:#26c6da,stroke:#00bcd4,color:#fff
    style F fill:#ffc107,stroke:#ffb300,color:#000
    style design fill:#ede7f6,stroke:#7c4dff
    style doing fill:#e0f7fa,stroke:#00bcd4
    style learning fill:#fff8e1,stroke:#ffc107
Design Space — emotional, aspirational, narrative
Execution Space — mechanical, small, boring
Feedback Loop — learning, adjusting, evolving

Why Layers Matter

Layers are not a stylistic choice. They are a psychological safety mechanism.

Layers prevent:

  • Overplanning
  • Perfectionism-driven avoidance
  • Identity collapse when tasks are missed
  • Guilt-based backlog spirals
  • Planning that ignores capacity
  • Treating goals like chores

Layers create:

  • Clarity about what matters
  • Emotional separation between identity and execution
  • Flexibility when life changes
  • Momentum without pressure
  • A system that survives missed days

Direction vs Execution (The Critical Boundary)

The most important boundary in the system is between:

  • Direction (identity, vision, values)
  • Execution (tasks, time, work)

Direction is allowed to be emotional, aspirational, and narrative.
Execution must be boring, small, and mechanical.

When execution is asked to carry emotional weight, burnout follows.
When direction is reduced to tasks, meaning disappears.

Layers keep these domains cleanly separated.

What This System Is Optimized For

This system is explicitly optimized for:

  • Long-term life design
  • Multiple concurrent goals
  • High autonomy
  • Complex personal projects
  • Periods of low energy
  • Recovery from missed time
  • Consistent progress without intensity

It is not optimized for:

  • Micromanaged environments
  • Rigid daily schedules
  • Gamified streak chasing
  • Maximum short-term output

Failure Modes This System Prevents

This system is designed specifically to prevent:

  • Spending hours planning instead of doing
  • Avoiding task systems because they feel accusatory
  • Restarting from scratch after a bad week
  • Overcorrecting with stricter systems
  • Treating missed tasks as moral failure
  • Letting tools dictate priorities

The Philosophy in One Sentence

Core Philosophy

You design the future at the top layers, you move it forward at the bottom layers, and you protect your energy by never confusing the two.

Non-Negotiable Rule

If a problem appears in your system:

First ask which layer is being violated.

Most breakdowns are not discipline problems. They are layer violations.

This System Works Because It Is Forgiving

You do not need to execute everything perfectly. You only need to respect the layer boundaries.

If you preserve the integrity of the layers, you can evolve the tools, workflows, and details endlessly without ever breaking the system.

Deep Dives by Layer