Alignment Pillars

Language is powerful. With the right words, you can create clarity, the endless pursuit of understanding. And with clarity, you can make better decisions. You create alignment between your aspirations and your current progress.

Why does this matter? One word: energy.

Energy follows alignment. If your work is misaligned in any way, you’ll feel it. And it may not seem obvious at first. You feel disengaged in a meeting; your mind wanders when you need to focus; you just feel sluggish. Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep or you’re coming down with something. Or? You’re misaligned.

This can happen at all levels, from the company you work in to the projects you work on; from your professional life to your personal life.

Misalignment is a silent killer. You may feel productive, but you’re not proud of your work. Something is off, but you don’t know why.

So I built a framework to track this.

I call it Alignment Pillars, and I’ll show you how to build your own. Equipped with these pillars, you have the language to find work that’s sustainable, energizing, and meaningful.

Let’s get started.

1. Identify Your Pillars

It starts with defining the pillars, the core ingredients that make work meaningful, energizing, and sustainable for you.

Stick with three because it’s a magic number, and the triangular shape helps when you need to visualize imbalances. A push or pull in one direction will surface issues—Tension Guides (Issue #21), if you will.

To create your pillars, answer these prompts:

• What kinds of work make me lose track of time?
• When I have I felt most proud of something I created?
• What’s always missing when I feel drained or disconnected from my work?
• What values do I need my work to reflect or support?
• If I had full freedom, what would I build or spend my energy on?

Spend time writing your answers and then look for groupings and patterns. Pick three. Keep refining until it feels right.

As an example, here are my pillars:

1. Craft: Creating and building with quality.
2. Systems: Structuring complexity into clarity.
3. Purpose: Doing personally meaningful work.

2. Define the Roles

For each pillar, define two roles:

• Aligned Role: Who you become when the pillar is aligned.
• Shadow Role: Who you become when it’s neglected or out of sync.

To find your roles, answer these prompts:

• When this part of my work is activated, how do I operate?
• What behaviors or strengths naturally show up when this pillar is fully activated?
• What version of me shows up when this pillar is missing or compromised?
• What am I proud of in this area when I’m at my best?
• What behaviors do I default to when I’m surviving instead of thriving?

This part takes time. I slowly found my roles for each pillar over time. Be patient. You will find the language.

Here are my roles for each pillar:

• Craft: Architect vs. Firefighter
• Systems: Bridge vs. Keystone
• Purpose: Crusader vs. Mercenary

3. Create a Mantra

For each pillar, create a mantra that captures how you want to show up when aligned.

Answer these prompts:

• What’s a phrase that reminds me how I want to operate in this area?
• If I could only whisper one sentence to myself each morning about this pillar, what would it be?
• What language helps me return to clarity when I’m drifting?
• How would I describe my ideal behavior or presence in this area?
• What simple phrase helps me reconnect with what matters most here?

Here are mine:

• Craft: Build with care.
• Systems: Map the hidden.
• Purpose: Work I believe in.

4. Map the Lights

In order to operate at your best—in your place of alignment—you want to embody the Aligned Role for each pillar as much as possible.

This is where I use the Lights System, a simple traffic-light coloring measurement that serves as a check-in on your alignment.

• 🟢 Green Light: Fully aligned.
• 🟡 Yellow Light: Partially aligned.
• 🔴 Red Light: No alignment.

Define the attributes of each light and create a weekly pulse that lets you check in. This is what we’ll discuss in the final step.

Misalignment is handled best when caught early.

5. Design Your Prompts

I began by talking about the power of language. This power shines in well-designed prompts, weekly reflection questions to spark insights and stay in tune with your pillars.

Try these:

• Am I operating in my aligned role or shadow role this week?
• What gave me energy in this pillar recently?
• What drained me or felt like friction?
• What’s one small way I could nurture this pillar next week?
• If this pillar stays yellow (or red), what might it cost me long term?

Create space each week to review your week, focusing specifically on your pillars. Where were you most aligned? Where were you misaligned? And what small experiments can you run to make a shift?

These are perfect for a weekly review (Issue #22) or as experiments in The Fieldbook (Issue #28). Keep an Experimental Mindset (Issue #15) and refine your Alignment Pillars regularly.

Your Formula

Words are the raw material of clarity. Use them wisely, and you create filters for alignment to prosper and grow. With alignment you have energy; with energy you have momentum.

And momentum is everything.

It all begins with finding alignment—work that is sustainable, energizing, and meaningful.

But the formula is different for everyone.

With Alignment Pillars, you can find your own formula to drive alignment.