The researchers do something unusual with the final session of this training: they wait before holding it. The first two sessions take place one week apart. The third comes one to three months later, leaving enough time for the skills to meet ordinary, unsupervised life.

This final session acts as a booster. It helps people look back at what lasted, notice what slipped and adjust their direction without judging themselves.

This unit serves the same purpose. If you have reached it in one sitting, the lessons will still make sense. However, the exercise below works best when you have a few weeks of real experience to look back on. You can always return to it later.

The check itself is simple. For each of five areas of life, health, relationships, work, leisure and growth, answer two questions on a scale from one to ten:

• How important is this area to me?
• How consistently have my actions faced this direction during the past two weeks?

Then look at the two numbers together. The pair tells you more than either number on its own.

A score of three and three may be perfectly reasonable. Not every area has to matter equally, and giving less time to something that matters less may mean your compass is working well.

The pair to look for is nine and three: an area that matters deeply to you but has received very little of your time or attention.

Before you complete the check, keep two things in mind.

First, there is no total and no ideal score. A nine-and-three pair is not a failing grade. It may be the most useful information on the page because it shows you where your next three small actions could make the greatest difference.

Second, do not be surprised if work looks consistent while a quieter area, often health or close relationships, shows a larger gap. That is not a character flaw. Work has deadlines, meetings and other people helping to keep it visible. The quieter parts of life often have only your compass. This check is designed to bring them back into view.

What should you do when you find a gap? Return to the process from Lesson 5 and point it toward the neglected direction: choose one value, write your reminder words, plan three small actions and name the passengers likely to appear.

You already have the method. This check simply shows you where to point it next.

The next lesson introduces a different kind of check. It takes thirty seconds, can be used in the middle of a meeting and rests on the part of you that difficult thoughts and feelings cannot change.