Finding Your North Star
Listen to the audio
read the blog
We welcome back Tim Elliott onto the podcast who joins us to talk about what it means to find and follow your North Star! Tim runs and collaborates on projects that use creativity as a catalyst for positive change, he’s also a mentor, workshop facilitator, speaker and climate reality leader who designs and delivers workshops for leaders and their teams on topics like commercial storytelling, brand purpose, culture, change, responsible leadership and strategy. He loves helping entrepreneurs and leaders see the best way forward through whatever challenges and opportunities they face by using the technique of following your North Star.
FINDING YOUR NORTH STAR
The North Star gives us direction and guides us in the right way, giving us momentum and purpose. It acts as a inner compass to keep you on track. Tim shares that your North Star doesn’t have to be a specific destination as it’s more of a feeling. It helps you to not be too ‘goal orientated’. Once you use it right, you can start to tell with more ease if you’re going in the right direction. Tim explains that it can help you make intentional decisions when it’s cloudy and can’t see the light of the North Star, which sometimes can be the way we experience life.
Tim talks about how so many of us choose our path through fear disguised as practicality - and practicality is fog - it’s clouds - it doesn’t help you ‘see’. Sally talks about over-scripting where you don’t invite the universe in to help navigate (co-create) - which can come from a sense of trying to be practical verses what feels right. Sibby talks about shiny penny syndrome - where you get distracted by something shiny when the value isn’t any greater. Tim explains that effectiveness is so important and having tools and practices to help us become more effective is beneficial.
We discuss the role of intention and to have intentional lives and make intentional choices, then that’s the best we can do. We are all imperfect and are not going to get everything right all of the time, but if we become more intentional with our choices and behaviours, we can navigate our lives for the better.
Tim talks about connection and disconnection and how this is a powerful tool to use to ‘stay on track’. Your North Star provides you with the necessary tools to sculpt your inner narrative. Tim does an exercise with his clients where they create a list of words that are both connection and disconnection words to help with this to stay on track.
Tim often talks about what it means to become purposeful and impactful and in order to do so, you need to see things from a different perspective, to see the world through a different lens. The most difficult part then is what follows and that is to act on it - you have to take the necessary steps to do it - this is sometimes referred to as inspired action.
Tim believes in the power of questions and uses this in his work. You have to develop a practice that you follow and make a commitment every time a choice presents itself. One of the questions that Tim asked himself when he started to run with the goal of becoming an endurance athlete was - who do I have to be in order for that to be true? Tim explains that beliefs and behaviours are what create the change - you’ve got to believe in that version of yourself to make the change happen.
Tim talks about making an impact and in order to do that we have to be mindful of our energy budget - how much energy do you have each day to spend? Sometimes you’ve only got 20% and sometimes more, but if you’re aware of it, you can make better choices of how to use that energy. Sometimes what you give your energy to gives it back, so it’s not always about ‘spending’ it, there can be an exchange. If you’re connected to something and want to do it, you’ll get positive energy back. You also need to think about what ‘sucks’ energy from you. If you can minimize the stuff that takes energy away and optimize the things that give you positive energy you are stronger and have more energy to move forwards down your North Star path!
Tim explains how our North Star can actually move. The direction comes from the foundational truth or a moveable truth at the centre of who you are. Things are a lot more circular that linear in life, we live in an eco-system and it’s circular, nothing is a straight line. You can see your North Star from a different perspectives and this can help you understand the necessary steps you need to take.
Every step you take towards the north star on this path has an effect. If you step off your North Star path then the ripple effects are not positive. This helps us to know and feel we are going in the right direction because the world does not - it tries to make you conform to a mainstream path - not your own path or your own North Star. What permission do you need to give yourself take the next action and connection?
At the end of the podcast Tim shares a few questions for you lovely listeners.
What would you do if you knew you would not fail? (Baring in mind that failure is just fear showing up as practicality.)
What is the idea you’re willing to fight for?
If everything is still the same in 5 years, how does that make you feel?And if you don’t like how it makes you feel then ask - what are you willing to change?
To find out more about Tim, click on this link: https://linktr.ee/timelliottuk.