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The fastest way to get from where you are to where you want to go

The fastest way to get anywhere is a straight line, and a line needs two points. Point B is where you’re going. Point A is where you actually are right now. Name both, and the route between them, along with everything blocking it, comes into view.

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Your point B

Set where you’re going before anything else

You author the destination first. It sounds backwards, but you can’t measure anything until you know what you’re measuring against. A real Point B is specific, something you’d clearly notice if you reached it. Most goals are what we call ‘borrowed’: they came from a business plan template, a competitor’s number, or whatever felt familiar.

Your point A

Then tell the truth about where you actually are

Point A is about the position you’re operating from, and it’s genuinely hard to see, because you’re standing inside your own assumptions. That’s why an honest Point A usually takes something outside your own head to see clearly.

One way in is to look at how you tend to operate. Almost everyone moves through three worlds. What’s yours?

Chasing momentum

Zigzag world

A surge, then a slide back. A deadline lights a fire, you perform, then it burns out and you drop right back to where you started.

Busy, going nowhere

Circle world

Plenty of motion, nothing finished. You stay busy and keep circling the same issue, but the number at the bottom never really moves.

Steady and effective

Straight-Line world

You get where you said you would, and the results prove it. This is the world others notice, because it actually produces something.

The route from A to B

Now you can see what’s actually in your way

For years it was just a feeling. Something’s off, I should be further, I don’t know why I’m not. Once you know exactly where you’re going and exactly where you stand, that feeling turns into a list. A clear set of actions. The hire you keep not making. The conversation you’ve rescheduled four times. The promise to yourself you’ve quietly stopped keeping. You can’t fix a feeling. You can fix a list.

The threshold

The steps so far set the line. Walking it is where the work begins

Naming your Point B, telling the truth about Point A, and seeing the route between them is the setup, and you can do all of it yourself with the free tools. What actually changes things is not the setup but the walking, done week after week, long after the first motivation has worn off. That is the practice the rest of this page describes.

What we focus on

Command over yourself shows up in four places

The leaders who reach their level and the ones who stall are rarely separated by talent or strategy. They’re separated by command over themselves: running yourself, instead of being run by your own head, your moods and your week. Inner Stance trains that in four places.

Clarity of outcome

The actual reason you get up in the morning, named clearly enough to build decisions around it. Not this week’s target. The direction underneath all of it.

I finally know what I’m actually working toward, at work and in life, not just what I think I should want.

Marielle Verhallen, Marielle Verhallen, Kiom-Opleidingen Marielle Verhallen, Marielle Verhallen, Kiom-Opleidingen
Follow through

Anyone can start strong on a Monday. The real test comes three weeks later, when the plan isn’t new anymore and nobody’s watching. This is doing the work regardless of the mood you’re in that day. It’s the entire distance between knowing and doing.

I stopped putting off the one decision I’d been avoiding for years, and just made it.

Ed van der Scheer, Ed van der Scheer, GOO Ed van der Scheer, Ed van der Scheer, GOO
Poise

Continue moving toward your goal with full force and full focus, regardless of what is happening around you.

I finally slowed down enough to actually see myself, instead of just reacting on autopilot.

Stef van Heesbeen, Stef van Heesbeen, Rolco Europe B.V. Stef van Heesbeen, Stef van Heesbeen, Rolco Europe B.V.
Effective social skills

Listening to what someone actually means, including the part they’re not saying outright. You understand your people enough to speak to what actually matters to them. Held over time, that builds a specific kind of relationship: a team that follows you because of who you are, not your title. Clients who trust you before you’ve finished the sentence. People who are genuinely with you, not just standing near you.

I communicate clearer now and make real agreements, and my whole team is better for it.

Diana Bekking, Diana Bekking, Gommers Retail Diana Bekking, Diana Bekking, Gommers Retail
The mission

We’re on a journey to disrupt one million undesired default futures

That’s the actual goal behind Inner Stance. A way of catching business leaders before they quietly settle for less than they’re capable of, and helping them choose a different direction on purpose.

Get a taste

Free leadership tools you can use today

Want to get familiar with the Straight-Line methodologies? Check out our resources hub. We have plenty of free tools to help you get started.