All spreadsCritical situations

The Next Step

Four cards for when things are too tangled to plan far ahead: where you stand, what blocks movement, which step to take and what it changes.

Take it when planning far ahead is impossible and you just need one near step.

Cards
4
Minutes
5
Reversals
On
AI reading
2 credits
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How to read it

Read from left to right, the way you climb stairs. The first card fixes the point you are standing on now, with no verdict of good or bad. The second names what keeps you in place: usually not a circumstance but the wait for a clarity that will not come. The third card is the step itself, and it must be turned into an action with a verb and a date; if that fails, look again and take the card's simplest meaning. The fourth shows what changes after the step: usually little, but enough to make the following one visible.

Positions

  1. Where you stand

    The point you are actually standing on, with no varnish and no self-reproach.

  2. What holds you still

    The reason you are not moving: fear, waiting for clarity, or somebody else's opinion.

  3. The next step

    One concrete action for the coming days that you are able to do yourself.

  4. What it changes

    What shifts after this step and which further step becomes visible.

More spreads: Critical situations