Target State: Horizon Mapping

Mapping Your target Horizons

On Substack I shared why clarity is the foundation of change and how defining your target state sets you up for success. Now it is time to start mapping the path toward it.

There are 3 major horizons we will explore in this work. Each has an important role to play in mapping the journey, and you may even find your unique path has additional milestones that keep you oriented and focused.

The three major horizons of this change are your ultimate target state, your near-term and your immediate-term. Occasionally, as I am doing right now with my hiking trip in Norway, you may find that an interim, long-term horizon is an important milestone as well.

The ultimate target state is the full, complete future target you’re working to achieve. We explored this in our visioning exercise. Depending on the size and scope of your dream, this can often be several years in the making. It’s important to maintain an access point to the glorious, fully-realized future target for motivation. It can be challenging to focus on too closely, however, as it may feel quite far away, especially as you’re getting started.

The near-term target state is the twelve-week time block that we work with to set challenging and meaningful goals that are directly connected to the ultimate target state. We plan this time horizon carefully, as setting objectives and working to achieve them with intention is the fastest path. Haphazard activity can feel constructive in the moment, but cannot consistently deliver the same results.

Working Backwards

Once the 12 week/3 month objective is defined, it is a logical progression, working backwards to identify what the stepping stones to achieving it will look like at the 8 week/2 month and 4 week/1 month milestones. Establishing the near term target approximately one quarter year into the furture gives you a good amount of time to work with in order to define a challenging but realistic target for yourself. The details for the interim 2 and 1 month objectives needn’t require a lot of thought. They should simply the be the logical milestones en route to the near-term target.

Finally, the immediate target is the sprint in front of you: the next 2 weeks. This is where we’ll spend most of our time and energy. It is most feasible to focus closely on the very next steps at any given time. This prevents getting overwhelmed in all there is to accomplish, or how large some of your objectives might feel.

A goal for the next two weeks, like all of the targets you set, should be challenging but realistic. If you’re in progress on landing your dream job, and this month’s goal is about networking, for example, what is a realistic number of people to connect with in your network? What would then make that a challenging target you would feel really proud of, and which would maximize your progress toward your target? Only you know what is on your plate for the next 14 days, what your current capabilities are, and what feels challenging. You also don’t need to stretch the maximum amount in each sprint. If your last sprint involved a lot of stretch perhaps this one is a lesser amount.

The important thing is that you are always, always pushing forward, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to some degree and setting yourself up for success.

So what’s the deal with this “sometimes” 4^th horizon, the long term target state? Well, depending on your ultimate target, it’s timeline and scope, you may want to define some big rock-style long term goals, to keep yourself motivated and keep the interest fresh. These are best in the 6-month to 18 month timeframe, with a year out the sweet spot. It gives you something to look forward to, as well as a hard boundary around your activity to ensure you are meeting an ambitious goal o the pathway to your ultimate target, on a. Regular basis. If your ultimate target is not a longer multiyear activity, you may not have a need for this.

My Real-Time target state horizons

I am sharing my health and fitness journey in real time so we can all see this methodology in action . My ultimate target state is a strong body and healthiest lifestyle that I can sustain for the rest of my days. It's a long-term target I talked about in this video.

En route to this multiyear target state I have a long-term milestone of hiking across Lofoten in Norway, nine months from now. The first hike we will complete involves a climb requiring 1,800 steps. Working backwards, I know I need to be at 600 steps by the three-month mark.

Strength is a key focus of my ultimate target, though my exact baseline and measurement plan are still to be defined. I will lock that in during my first sprint.

The third element is sustained habits. For me this means exercise, diet and self-care. For my near-term (3 month) I am defining the following target:

• Exercising regularly, five times per week

• Tracking my food daily to have clear data about what is working

• Prepping healthy meals each week, aiming for at least two lunches and two dinners

  
  

This Is about creating sustainable routines that support my health and fitness goals. I am starting from a non-zero baseline when it comes to exercise and nutrition, and also a sub-zero baseline when it comes to consistency. I am great at starting and even intermittent fits of activity, but I often fail to plan for longer-term commitment. This first 3-month target is about building consistency.

Working Backward

Once the three-month milestone is defined, the two-month and one-month markers become clearer.

• At two months, I will target 400 steps.

• At one month, 200 steps.

• My strength metrics will follow the same logic, improving incrementally over each horizon.

• My habits will scale as well, starting with consistency and gradually building frequency and complexity.

This backward mapping makes the path concrete and measurable. It also makes it fairly painless to move through the steps actually required to make a big, challenging objective months into the future a reality.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Consistency is the muscle I want to build first. For me, the one-month target is not about significant gains in muscle as much as it is about gains in my ability to show up consistently. That means putting a trigger in place, such as laying out workout clothes the night before, so that exercise becomes automatic.

Habit formation has three parts: trigger, activity, reward. In the beginning, the activity can be small. The important part is that the cycle becomes reliable. Once consistency is in place, I can layer in higher quality, longer duration, or greater intensity.

We’ll talk a LOT more about building, testing, and refining habits as we go through this journey!

Looking Ahead

With my one-, two-, and three-month targets mapped, I am ready to begin the first two-week sprint. That is where the real iteration begins: reflect, adjust, and keep momentum moving forward. I'll be posting about my first sprint

That’s where I am at…How about you? If you look three months ahead, what milestone would put you firmly on the path toward your own target state?