The Toolkit
The pages from the back of the book. They work with a pencil — that’s how they were built — and they work here. Fill them on screen and print them, or print them blank and do it the book’s way.
Your One Idea
The one you want but feel like you need permission for. Don't polish it. Write the version you'd be embarrassed to say out loud, because that's the real one.
The Permission Lane Audit
One dead idea, walked through the six stops to find where it actually died and which currency killed it — money, time, energy, stress, or permission. Then the honest audit: a real week, split into building and gatekeeping hours. No action required. Just look at it honestly.
| Stop | Did it survive? | What it cost |
|---|---|---|
| Idea | ||
| Research | ||
| Design | ||
| Build | ||
| Distribute | ||
| Sell |
The Compass
The two questions and the four directions, with room to run one real task through them. Not a form you fill out once — a habit.
The Five Functions
One prompt for each: the decision that's yours whether you claim it or not; the place you've been gathering instead of deciding; the promise worth keeping and what will tempt you to break it; the outcome that would change you, not just cost you; twenty options, one choice, and why in your own words.
The decision that's yours whether you claim it or not.
The place you've been gathering instead of deciding.
The promise worth keeping — and what will tempt you to break it.
The outcome that would change you, not just cost you.
Twenty options, one choice, and why — in your own words.
The Map
Rachel's, filled in, and a blank one for yours. Destination, legs, a direction on each. That's it. That's a Map.
| Research destinations | Execute |
| Compare the costs | Execute |
| Build the itinerary options | Collaborate |
| Choose the week | Steward |
“AI plans the trip. I decide what experience it creates. I get to focus on what it’s for.”
| Leg | Direction |
|---|---|
Map Overlays
The work you repeat, the five overlays, and the column that matters: where does a human have to stand?
| Overlay | What happens here |
|---|---|
| GENERATION | |
| RESEARCH | |
| PRODUCTION | |
| DISTRIBUTION | |
| DECISION-SUPPORT |
Set a Cadence
Weekly during change, monthly in steady state, always on trigger — with the two gut-checks: when did you last say no to the system, and how many reviews have you canceled this quarter?
Always, on trigger: results decline, conditions change, capabilities jump.
Come Back to Your Idea
Turn back to Page 1. It costs less to build now than it did the day you wrote it down. What's standing between you and it was never money, and it was never permission. Say it out loud. Then go do it.
From Running at the Speed of Light, the Toolkit · Prometheus Press