Creator OS: Turn Vision Into Action

There is magic in thinking big. And sometimes we realize we can do so much more than the limiting story we've been telling ourselves. When this happens, it becomes essential to guide this vision, set clear goals, break them down into projects, and turn them into action. As an Entrepreneur or creator, it's easy to get scattered and let the chaos determine your direction. But in order to make real progress, we need to have clarity. This can only be achieved by implementing a system that gives an overview of all our actions, projects, goals, and vision. So we can focus on the essentials and eliminate the rest.

The Creator OS

The Creator OS is designed to turn your vision into action and make real progress in your work.[^1] It's not about becoming perfectly organized, but about aligning ourselves with something we can rely on. When we become more effective, we can change not only our own life, but that of those around us. Yet, most people never contribute their gift, because when you have vision but no system, you will not achieve your goals.

In practice, as discussed in the Creation Process[^2], we can either move from vision to action or from action to vision. It is best to start from action and later align it with vision, so will avoid the trap of inaction and perfectionism. And when confidence in your ability to create something big is there, you can set multiple visions and turn them into actions. Better actions aligned with vision create good journeys and awesome results.

Actions

An action is a finite task that we can do in a single sitting. Creating a to-do list is the first step in the creation process. "Your mind is made for having ideas, not for holding them."[^3] We live in an extremely complicated world, and we're often pulled in a thousand directions at once. In order to stay present and trust that we will get to everything that's truly needed, we need to have a system that tracks all our to-do’s. Through the quick-capture method, we capture our ideas in under two seconds to our inbox. We track and review our actions in the daily review of the Creator OS.

But if an action takes under 2-minutes to complete, we execute them immediately to avoid over-tracking. Actions are a core part of life, and by becoming more effective—knowing what not to do—we can do more with less effort. But if you only have a to-do list, it will never solve the problem of busyness. Because as we get better, we will be able to do more, and in turn will have more to do. This is why we must continue up the ladder and link actions to a project.

Projects

A project consists of two or more actions oriented towards the same purpose. Usually, there are around 10-100 actions per project. A project organizes actions and gives an overview of all the work to be done. Projects have milestones, which we can check off, so we know when the project is completed. Besides our actions, we can view our notes, (external) resources, and contacts in one view, so everything stays organized per project. Whether we're building a website, finishing a portfolio, or organizing an event, we need to have everything in one place, so we can execute more effectively.

Projects are also accompanied by preparatory and reflection questions, so we can plan ahead and learn from our past experiences. A hard rule: if we don't have the time to properly organize and plan a project, we don't have the time to take it on. The goal is to make it harder to take on new things, so we become more deliberate in what we do. We review projects in the weekly review, the powerhouse of the Creator OS. This let's us reflect on the week and plan ahead for the next. As James Clear said: "We don't rise to the level of our goals, but we fall to the level of our systems."[^4] Once we have made a consistent habit of organizing our actions and projects on a daily and weekly basis, we are ready to start setting some real goals.

Goals

Goals consist of two or more projects aimed towards a single outcome. Popularized under the term SMART-goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. Goals are specific moments in time, usually 6 months to 3 years. They are measurable, so we know exactly beforehand when a goal is completed, and we can check off the milestones within them. They must be achievable, i.e., realistic, while also being relevant i.e., ambitious in the right direction. Goals are quantifiable; we cannot bullshit ourselves in our progress. If we choose not to create definite goals, we end up achieving everything that we've defined for ourselves—which is nothing.

Yet, if we set goals, it can often derail us from what is important. Goals should always contribute instead of diminishing any journey. For example, the goal is to become a musician, and is completed when we’ve learned 100 songs on the guitar by heart. Goals are tracked on a monthly basis, so we become relentless about our focus and energy. Newport stated it like this: "A deep life is a good life."[^5]. The monthly review allows us to eliminate shallow work and focus on deep work. But goals are oriented towards a destination, while vision guides us on the journey.

Vision

A vision consists of at least two goals. There are two sorts of visions: one we create, and the other we receive. Material visions are created bottom up, while spiritual visions are received top down. Business ventures are good examples of bottom-up approaches, while vision quests [^6] are good examples of top-down approaches. I've done both and find that the combination of them is most powerful. Some of our visions we should create, while others can only be received. The focus of the Creator OS is on getting you to move from action to vision, yet it can easily incorporate both approaches.

Visions act like a compass. If you would hop on a boat in England and change course of about 3 degrees, it makes a difference if you end up in the United states or the Bahamas. We can do less than we think in a year, but can achieve way more than we ever thought possible in a decade. That is the hard truth: most people cannot hold on to their dreams and never see them come to fruition. Visions are long and vague, but take us on an incredible journey. They don't have one definite aim and are never completed. A vision typically spans 5–30 years and is therefore rare and limited in number. Working on cultivating a vision is a worthwhile pursuit, and we track them in the quarterly review. But too many productivity systems miss one essential fact.

4000 weeks

If fortune allows it, and you turn 80 years old, you'll have lived for about 4000 weeks.[^7] This is not a long time, and we cannot therefore commit to everything or be able to get on top of 'it'. Yet, committing to nothing does not serve us either. We are going to die someday, so we might as well test the reality of our dreams. We are bestowed by nature with the power to create, or sometimes a vision. Either path provides the same challenge, only the angle differs: we either need to turn vision into action, or action into vision. This is why we need the Creator OS.