Navigating Life’s Journey: The Power of Finding your North Star

Changemaker
12 November 2023

Navigating Life’s Journey: The Power of Finding your North Star

Do you have a North Star that guides you forward purposefully?

Some get their North Star through organized religion. Others get it by setting goals and achieving them. But what about your Big Goal? I’m talking about the one that leads to your greatest fulfilment.

North Star

You are here for a reason. To discover why you’re here – your purpose – you start by identifying your values.

Vision is your purpose realized. When you create a vision, you state what you want the world to look like. It’s your answer to the question, What legacy do I want to leave?

Teeter-Totter

Your Big Goal combines purpose and vision.

Imagine life as a teeter-totter with being on one end and doing on the other. On this teeter-totter, purpose represents being whereas vision is about doing. Except, this teeter-totter must tilt to one side first – being – before it can balance. How do you know that? The clue comes from who you are, a human being not a human doing.

Now you see how purpose is weighted more heavily than vision, at least initially. Purpose drives vision.

Many people dismiss vision altogether as too lofty a concept for them. They argue they don’t have “time” for this work, and/or that they lack the skills/talent/charisma for it. All saboteur lies.

Remember that behind each saboteur lives negative, fear-based energy. Saboteurs don’t want your happiness; they just want to be right.

Instead, listen to your Leader Within (or sage), which is positive, loving energy. Your Leader Within wants what’s best for you. Your access point to everything important in your life is always your Leader Within. ¹

From Self-Actualization to Self-Transcendence

Maslow said the pinnacle of his Hierarchy of Needs was self-actualization, however, he revised it at the end of his life. His new peak replaced self-actualization with self-transcendence.

Self-transcendence is about the need to serve others. It happens after self-actualization. If self-actualization is “know thyself” then self-transcendence is “share with others.”

You self-actualize by living on purpose. You attain self-transcendence once you realize self-actualization served its “purpose.”

In fact, you are here to serve others. Your vision about “what you want the world to look like” isn’t really about you but about serving the greater good.

Legacy

The best way to develop your vision is to answer the question about your legacy:

Legacy is not a luxury only available to the most successful senior executives but an expression of your purpose. Because you are here for a reason, it’s your responsibility to yourself and others to learn what that is.

Service

In sum, vision serves others; purpose serves you.

Vision without purpose will fail. It cannot succeed because it has no grounded meaning. Vision without purpose is simply ego. A certain car manufacturer and social media platform owner comes to mind as I write that previous sentence.

Purpose without vision is incomplete. The “purpose” of knowing who you are is to figure out how you’ll apply it. As Maslow rightly described, the “big goal” is not about you – self-actualization – it’s about the collective – self-transcendence.

You have gifts and talents you are meant to share. Don’t hoard your talents but distribute them with abandon.

Connection

Find your North Star by connecting purpose and vision. You’ll stay on course, maintain pace through your internal motivation, and reach your destination.

Start with your purpose. If you want to learn yours, attend my live-in-person workshop, Ignite Your Why! on Tuesday, November 21 at 7 PM.

¹ Watch this video if you want to learn more about this concept, including specific steps to transition your mindset from negative to positive.

Header Photo by fauxels

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