The Compass Check: Your Daily Energy Management Ritual

The Compass Check is the heart of Three Daily Goals—a daily review process that helps you manage your energy, not just your tasks. This isn't just another productivity routine; it's a system designed for people who have been overwhelmed by traditional task management.

What is the Compass Check?

The Compass Check is a daily ritual that happens once between noon and noon (planning for tomorrow if done in the evening, or for today if done in the morning). It's your moment to pause, reflect, and choose your direction for the day ahead.

The Compass Check Process

1. Review Yesterday's Priorities

• Look at what you accomplished yesterday
• Mark completed tasks as closed
• Move any unfinished tasks back to open or priority if they still matter

2. Handle Waiting Tasks

• Review tasks in waiting for response status
• Close tasks that have been confirmed or completed
• Follow up on tasks that need attention
• Move forgotten tasks back to open if they're still relevant

3. Choose Your Three Daily Goals

• Select three tasks from your open list to become today's priority tasks
• These should be the most important things for your energy and goals today
• Remember: three is the magic number—more leads to overwhelm, fewer lacks direction

4. Let the Graveyard Do Its Work

• Tasks that haven't been touched in 30 days automatically move to dead (the graveyard)
• This prevents the suffocating pile-up that makes other task managers unusable
• Trust the system—if you haven't thought about a task in a month, it probably wasn't that important

Task States Explained

• Open: Your pool of potential tasks—the river of possibilities
• Priority: Today's three main goals—what deserves your energy right now
• Waiting for Response: Tasks you've completed but need confirmation from others
• Closed: Completed tasks—celebrate these wins
• Dead: Deprioritized tasks in the graveyard—let them go, they're not serving you

The Gamification: Your Daily Streak

Three Daily Goals tracks your Compass Check streak—consecutive days of completing your daily review. This isn't about perfection; it's about building the habit of intentional energy management. The app will remind you to do your Compass Check, turning this into a rewarding daily ritual.