As children the earliest concept of the North Star was introduced in fairy tales or science quizzes. Similar to the story in Peter Pan, Peter would use stars to have Wendy and his friends find him. In many fictional stories people have used the north star as a compass to guide their way through turbulent journeys. However, the north star is not just a good way to navigate journeys or a fancy way to add to stories. The North Star is also a term people can use in marketing projects and personal development.
Why even have a North Star? Because we all need direction for a specific goal whether it be for work or our personal lives. It is crucial to help us in moving forward or redirect our energies if something is swaying us from our intended direction. Finding your North Star is like finding one’s purpose. Your North Star is a guiding vision. This helps to navigate decisions and prioritize what you want to do with your intended goal.
At Rocket Station, goal setting is one of the more important steps our people undertake, and with this unique process of finding your north star, it won’t be difficult charting your path, as long as you put in the work.
Why are you doing your job?
Write down the reasons why you decided to work with this job role.
For fun – it’s for your friends, self expression, meeting interesting people, learning about a topic, pushing a conversation forward
Indirect business goals – personal branding, meeting customers, growing an audience, becoming an influencer in your industry
The direct business goals – earn money or capital, build your career, have experience in your industry to one day start your own business
It can be 1-3, but try not to pick more than 3. You want to stay focused and be able to remind yourself why you got into this. It will help center decisions later on around growth and monetization. If you are doing it purely for business, I’d encourage you to have a creative angle as well.
What excites you the most about your job?
Remembering what makes you happy about your role can give you much needed motivation to get through a slump or times when you forget your “Why?”
Core Values
List down what your values are
For inspiration, check out this list of 200 personal values
List down all your non-negotiables (things that you will not compromise on) in order of priority
e.g. “I don’t want to pitch ideas that I feel are too tone deaf”, “I don’t want to diss any people/products when I set my presentations”
Set your Goal
Before you commit to a goal, we need to make sure that you’ll have enough motivation to chase that goal, this goal has to be something that you’re interested in, realistic and passionate about.
Let’s do an exercise. Answer the following:
What are some things you like learning about at work?
What are you excited about at work?
Are there things that other people do whether it be in your department or not that you find interesting?
What topic can you talk about for hours at your work longue?
What are your hobbies that you can apply to this goal?
Who are some of my heroes, and what is the common thread that runs through their stories?
Approach To Work Community
Who can you tap as a mentor in this goal?
Who can you reach out to for help?
Do you want to build a community alongside your goal?
How can you engage the people in your community to further develop your goal?
Do the Work
When you’ve collated all the information and inspiration necessary to perform your goal, do this step:
Write down all the plans you need to accomplish on your calendar, book all the coffee dates, all the online meetings as necessary.
Set timelines and remember to set your end goal as the last and final step.
Remember: Setting your north star is that your north star only serves as a point of direction, a place of vision, and vision cannot happen without action.
This March, Rocket Station shines light into self-development and building yourself at work. Being a better leader, a better remote worker, or even just a better person. Sign up in our newsletter for more high-impact articles that develop you into the person you want to be.
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