Updated February 9, 2019
When life hands you some level of chaos and unpredictability, do you have the skills to remain resilient, or do you find yourself too overwhelmed? In the midst of such adversity, each person will react differently to the stress, and some may eventually lose sight of “the right thing to do” for yourself, your family, or your career. Knowing the answer to “What is my North Star?” can lead you out of uncertainty and guide your path to success and growth at both a personal and professional level.
What Is A North Star?
When you know your North Star, you know where you’re headed. It embodies a deeper life purpose, and is a fundamental aim that gives clarity, meaning, and richness to your life. There is an inherent goodness about your North Star, so aiming toward it will bring more and more happiness and benefit to yourself. It allows you to dream big and take more risks because if you lose your way, you’ve got a beacon to redirect your journey home.
How To Find Your North Star
Finding your North Star entails self-awareness, modeling values, and being a self-directed learner.
1) Self-awareness is the essential first step in analyzing your decision-making and behavioral patterns. It will eventually lead you to understand your strengths, weaknesses, and the factors that influence them and how they affect others. Essentially, self-awareness facilitates your reflection about mistakes and successes and it helps regulate your ability to delay self-gratification, to control or redirect disruptive impulse and moods, suspend judgment, and to think before acting.
2) As self-awareness evolves, it enables you to be clear about your own values and philosophy. As such, you develop a moral compass that helps you to focus on “true north” that is guided by moral character, concern for others, and a congruence of ethical values and actions. It gives you a personal accountability that is integrally aligned with purpose and shows a willingness to act regardless of the opinions of others.
3) As you become more aware of yourself internally, your mind opens up to more learning possibilities and it encourages you to take risks and pushes you out of your comfort zone. Being a self-directed learner can help you to prioritize your values and revise them over time to ensure continued growth.
So, the next time you find yourself lost in the turbulent seas of life and you’re unsure if you chose the right profession, or you’re conflicted about reporting a colleagues wrongdoing, or you’re torn about breaking up with your partner, your North Star will help you with those tough decisions and guide you back on track.
Call to Action: Are you able to read your internal compass, articulate your core desires, identify and repair the unconscious beliefs that may be blocking your progress towards your North Star? Read my blog post “The Importance of Knowing Your Why?” for more guidance.
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