North Star with Clouds

What is your North Star on your compass?

A Star map shows the relative position of Polaris in Ursa Minor. The 
North Star is the brightest star in the constellation.

The North Star, Polaris, is essential because the axis of the planet is pointed almost directly at it. During adventures during the night, Polaris does not rise or set and remains in nearly the same spot above the northern horizon year-round.

Since it does not change and always points north, it is ideal for directions when you are lost.

With so much input and output in today’s world, everyday tasks can be overwhelming. Our intention for each day can get lost in translation. Limiting our bandwidth of this daily input will blur the distractions and bring forward the things we want to focus on every day.

Focal

You can dim the other stars. Finding your North Star is discovering the things important in your life and placing all your energy into them. If we are romanticizing the idea of being a renaissance man, it is superfluous. It is a concept of greed. Striving to be great at everything is lovely and ideal, but we are also fighting a finite source of time. You can not have everything nice and neat. I’m not saying you can not do it, I’m just saying it will take more time, and the clock is ticking. Now, efficiently speaking, focusing on the things necessary to you gives back time in your life to also enjoy the ride. It also increases your success at being not just good but great in specific things.

It’s like those role-playing games. You have a specific amount of points to invest in certain categories. There is no hack or cheat to get extra points. You have to decide if you want to be mediocre in everything or you want to be good at some things. Spending those points is us spending our time. So how can you reset your points?

Reset time

Get a time machine go back and do it over. Seriously though, since we do not have time machines, reset your time allocation to refocus on your North Star. I have mentioned in previous articles how journalling can assist in finding your focus. Create a pros and cons list of your life. What do you love doing? What do you hate wasting your day? Create that list. The list can be incomplete because you can always go back to it and amend it. Making the difference apparent is the first step.

Obsess

Obsess over your list of pros. Absorb yourself in the things you want to pursue. Having an obsession can also reveal that you may not enjoy what you thought you would. Obsessing is like a super mode that fast forwards the time you spend on a subject, so you can discover if it is your North Star or not. If, after everything you learn and obsess over does not bring hunger and desire to endure, it’s time to move on.

Bandwidth

Limit your bandwidth. You can’t listen while speaking. Pause in moments to offer time to reflect. The quality of your bandwidth is vital also. Consuming information that doesn’t follow your North Star, and derails your path does not serve you. Every output you deliver to the world should be of your best effort, humble yourself to learn how to improve for next time.

Endurance

Remember before, hunger and desire to endure. Your North Star is an idea of where you want to be. Sometimes that star can be vague and hard to see. The path that is not a simple one to follow. During the journey, you may feel lost, and your North Star is beyond reach. Evaluate if you have the endurance to continue, if not, you have to be honest in recalibrating what you want.

Your North Star can change if you find your happiness is elsewhere. In a starry night, if every light is bright, we cannot find our North Star.

“Explorers depend on the North Star when there are no other landmarks in sight. The same relationship exists between you and your right life, the ultimate realization of your potential for happiness. I believe that a knowledge of that perfect life sits inside you just as the North Star sits in its unaltering spot.” -Martha Beck