Alignment to Your Assignment (Stay on the Yellow Brick Road)
Everything in this world will try to take you on a detour. Get back on the road.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 80%
Asked what the common thread is among the celebrities, athletes and executives he mentors — people who have everything and still need coaching — Storey names one thing: stay on the yellow brick road. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is told to follow the yellow brick road to get to Kansas, and then every single character tries to take her off it — Toto, the tin man, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion, the wicked witch. Storey says this is where he is a master and cannot be beaten: he sees people start to veer before they do, and he calls them back. His name for it is alignment to your assignment. Everything in this world will try to take you on a detour and a distraction; the job is noticing and returning.
Origin
The framework comes from Storey's 18 years of life-coaching the biggest companies and the biggest names — Oprah, Robert Downey Jr., Steve Harvey — where he found that the universal need among people who already have everything is not more resources but alignment. He also cites Oprah's own advice as its complement: never force the process, let it unfold.
Core principles
- 01Everyone has an assignment; the road to it is knowable.
- 02Everything and everyone will try to pull you off it — including the ones who love you.
- 03Veering is gradual and visible from outside long before it's visible from inside.
- 04Alignment to your assignment is the single most common need among high achievers.
- 05Sacrifice, not surplus, is what funds the early road.
- 06Forgive yourself for past detours — you're a work in progress.
How to run it
- 1
Name the assignment
Dorothy wanted Kansas. Know what your equivalent is before anything else — the alignment is always alignment TO something.
- 2
Identify the yellow brick road
The path to the assignment is knowable and specific. In the film every character tells her the same thing: follow the yellow brick road.
- 3
Expect every character to pull you off
Toto, the tin man, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion, the wicked witch — all of them tried to take Dorothy off the road. Detours come from allies as often as enemies.
Watch out The friendly detours are the dangerous ones. The wicked witch is easy to spot; Toto isn't.
- 4
Install someone who can see you veer
Storey's stated mastery is spotting the veer early and calling it. Recruit that function — someone whose job is to say 'get back on'.
Pro tip Pair this with the comeback formula's third step: partner with people who educate you up and out.
- 5
Fund the road from sacrifice, not surplus
Sometimes you live from your sacrifice, sometimes from your surplus — and Storey says too many people are waiting for the surplus. Staying on the road often means selling something to get where you need to be.
Pro tip At 18 Storey sold his Volkswagen to attend a seminar in Seoul, Korea run by a man doing what he wanted to do.
- 6
Forgive yourself for the detours
Storey's single most actionable piece of advice: forgive yourself. You may not be what you want to be, but thank God you're not what you used to be. You're a work in progress.
In the wild
At 18, Storey learned of a man in Seoul, Korea who was excellent at running nonprofits and helping people — exactly what Storey wanted to do. He sold his Volkswagen to pay for the trip to that seminar.
→ He frames it as the sacrifice-versus-surplus principle in action: 'you got to sacrifice to get to where I've gotten.'
A billionaire friend offered to fund Lead with Love immediately. Storey told him to put it on hold, shocking him, because he needed to stay true to who he's really about and build block by block.
→ He kept the relationship — planning to bring the man in later as a smart businessman — without letting the money set the direction.
Storey says of the biggest celebrities and athletes he mentors, who have everything and still need coaching, that the biggest common need is staying on the yellow brick road. He can see when they start to veer off and calls them back.
→ It's the capability he claims cannot be beaten: 'I keep people on the yellow brick road.'
Common mistakes
Assuming success protects alignment
Storey's clients have everything and still veer. Resources multiply the number of available detours rather than reducing them.
Waiting for surplus before moving
Too many people are waiting until they can afford the road. Storey sold his car at 18. Sacrifice is the early-stage funding model.
Forcing the process
Oprah's advice to Storey — never force the process, let it unfold; the greats let themselves unfold — is the counterweight. Alignment is about not veering, not about pushing harder.
Is it for you?
Best for
High achievers with too many options, and anyone whose calendar no longer matches their calling.
Not ideal for
People who haven't identified an assignment yet — this is a staying-on framework, not a finding one.
From the transcript
“So I would say the biggest one is to stay on the yellow brick road.”
“I keep people on the yellow brick road. I can even see when they start to veer off and I'll go like this. Get back…”
“Sometimes you live from your sacrifice. Sometimes you live from your surplus. Too many of you are waiting till you get to the surplus.”
“Her idea was never force the process, let it unfold, that the greats just let themselves unfold.”
From the episode
Tim Storey: The Mindset Shift That Turns Setbacks into Extraordinary Comebacks
Tim Storey