Horizons of Focus (Six-Level Model for Reviewing Your Work)
From runway to 50,000 feet -- six altitudes to define and align all your work
The Horizons of Focus model provides six distinct levels of perspective from which to define and review your work, using an aerospace altitude metaphor. From bottom to top: Runway (current actions -- the 300-500 hours of tasks you'd need to complete if no new input ever arrived), 10,000 feet (current projects -- the 30-100 outcomes requiring multiple actions), 20,000 feet (areas of responsibility -- the 10-15 key roles where you maintain standards, like 'health,' 'finances,' 'career,' 'family'), 30,000 feet (one-to-two-year goals -- shifts in emphasis and new objectives), 40,000 feet (three-to-five-year vision -- career trajectory, organizational strategy, major life transitions), and 50,000+ feet (life purpose -- why you exist, your ultimate mission).
Allen's counterintuitive recommendation is to work from the bottom up rather than the top down. While intellectually it seems that purpose should drive everything, most people are so embroiled in ground-level commitments that they can't effectively focus on the higher horizons until the lower ones are under control. Getting current at the runway level frees up the creative energy needed for higher-altitude thinking. Once the bottom is handled, the higher levels can be addressed without the gravitational pull of uncaptured commitments dragging attention downward.
Each level should enhance and align with the ones above it. A phone call (runway) supports a project (10,000 feet) that falls within an area of responsibility (20,000 feet) that advances a goal (30,000 feet) that fits a vision (40,000 feet) that serves your life purpose (50,000+ feet). When these are misaligned, stress and dissatisfaction result even if productivity is high.
- Priorities sit in a hierarchy from the top down, but effective implementation works from the bottom up.
- You can't focus on the higher horizons until the lower ones are under control -- unprocessed 'stuff' creates cognitive drag.
- Each level should enhance and align with the ones above it. Misalignment between levels creates stress.
- Clarifying values doesn't simplify your life -- it gives meaning and direction, and a lot more complexity.
- It is impossible to feel good about your choices unless you are clear about what your work really is, at all levels.
- Get the Runway clear: capture and organize all current actionsIdentify every next physical action you need to take. This is the inventory of all the phone calls, emails, errands, and tasks you'd need to complete if you stopped the world right now. Organize them by context into trusted lists.Pro tipYou probably have 300-500 hours' worth of actions on your plate right now. Don't be alarmed -- the goal isn't to finish them all but to get them all visible and organized.
- Map all current projects at 10,000 feetCreate a complete Projects list of every outcome you're committed to that requires more than one action step. Most people have 30-100 active projects. Ensure each has at least one defined next action.Pro tipProjects don't need to be listed by priority -- just completeness. The list is an index of all open loops, not a ranking system.
- Define areas of responsibility at 20,000 feetList the 10-15 key areas where you need to maintain standards and achieve results, both professionally (strategic planning, staff development, customer service) and personally (health, family, finances, home environment, recreation). Use this as a framework to evaluate whether your project inventory is complete.Pro tipAsk yourself: 'If I were to suddenly leave this role, what would I need to brief my replacement on?' The answers reveal your areas of responsibility.
- Set one-to-two-year goals at 30,000 feetIdentify what you want to be experiencing in each area of your life and work one to two years from now. These goals may require shifts in emphasis, new areas of responsibility, or different project priorities.
- Develop three-to-five-year vision at 40,000 feetThink about career trajectories, organizational strategy, major life transitions, technology changes, and competitive landscape shifts that will affect your work over the next three to five years. Decisions at this level can reshape everything below.
- Clarify life purpose at 50,000+ feetThis is the ultimate 'why?' -- your reason for existing, the primary purpose that provides the core definition of what your 'work' really is. All goals, visions, objectives, projects, and actions derive from this and lead toward it.Pro tipDon't wait until you have a perfect life mission statement. Even rough directional clarity at this level provides powerful filtering for decisions at every lower level.WarningAttempting this level while the lower horizons are chaotic typically produces beautiful statements that are disconnected from operational reality.
A salesperson needs to make a phone call (runway action) about a deal she's working on (10,000-foot project) that would increase regional sales (20,000-foot responsibility). This particular deal would help her move up in the sales force (30,000-foot goal) because the company wants to penetrate a new market (40,000-foot vision). That career advancement would get her closer to the professional and financial life she wants (50,000+ foot purpose).
Many executives Allen coached during the day to clear their runway-level 'stuff' spent the following evening having a stream of ideas and visions about their company and future. This happened as an automatic consequence of unsticking their workflow at the ground level.
Allen developed this model to address a gap he observed between daily workflow management (the core of GTD) and the 'bigger picture' thinking advocated by traditional strategic planning. He noticed that values-clarification exercises often failed for three reasons: daily distraction prevented focus on higher levels, people resisted bigger goals because they couldn't manage what they already had, and clarifying values actually increased workload rather than simplifying it. The aerospace altitude metaphor emerged as a way to make these abstract levels concrete and navigable.