How Do You Find Your North Star?

I am aiming to influence 100 million people to change the world as they define it by the time I’m 100 years old. I’m currently at 6 million with plenty of time to spare.

The biggest thing holding people back from defining their own North Star or pursuing one actively is fear.

F.E.A.R. = False Evidence Appearing Real

Broadly, fear takes on two forms: fear of failure or fear of success. A brief Google search shows us people search the term “fear of failure” 40% of the time, or 229M hits, compared to the phrase “fear of success,” which is searched for 60% of the time, accounting for 343M hits.

Aside from fear, other reasons people don’t establish a North Star are that they simply haven’t taken time to think about it, don’t believe it matters, have a limitation like anxiety or depression, or think it’s too complex to undertake.

1. Place: Get yourself in a quiet, generative place. Choose a beach, park, or corner of a cafe or pub, whatever place allows you to calmly focus and reflect.
2. Mindset: Calm your mind by taking a brisk walk or run and by doing deep breath work and meditating for 15 minutes.
3. Answer: Jot down a response to one of the questions below on a bar room napkin (or whatever you have handy) in under 60 seconds and in 25 words or less. They are all the same question asked a different way. Pick one, then turn on a timer.
   • What would you do if you could do anything?
   • What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
   • What would you pursue if you had 10 million dollars in the bank?

For additional consideration: Regardless of whether or not you are a person of spiritual faith, consider how your beliefs factor into the below concepts:

• Spirituality is the recognition that something exists beyond human existence. It can be seen as an existential quest for meaning. Ultimately, God determines your fate and meaning since he put it inside of you.
• Existentialism is the idea that we exist and create meaning for our own existence. Existentialism is rooted in phenomenology, which studies perception and meaning. Ultimately, we determine our fate because we are the center of the universe.

Get clear, get free, get going,

Traction, Get a Grip on Your Business, by Gino Wickman

How Will You Measure Your Life, by Clayton Christiansen

Chart Your Lifeline, Chart Your Story, Your Purpose, by Andy Christiansen