What's your North Star?

??????????????????: I was failing my PGCE. My first placement was a morbid series of car crashes molded into valuable learning experiences for me by my first educator mentor, Jenny Wren. I am forever grateful to her for this. My second was a continuation of the former but not so much the latter from my second educator mentor, he who shall not be named. Honestly, it broke me. Thankfully though, these placements are no longer than a few months, thus allowing me to muscle through on will. What felt horrific at the time revealed truths about myself that helped me grow. In order to place my self-esteem back into my own hands I discarded the government standards of what makes a good teacher and created my own to judge myself against. And at the very top of that list was the one thing that should I fail at, I would deem it reasonable for me to feel horrific about myself for. Curiosity. My North Star metric. My base standard as a teacher. So long as I could spark curiosity, I could feel good enough about myself to tenaciously improve upon everything else.

A North Star metric is a measure of one's self. When the wind is tumultuous, the sea unforgiving, and the night cold, your North Star provides comfort and guidance. Allows you to hold your head high when you make the inevitable mistakes necessary for learning and growth. It must also be simple enough for a confused mind to grasp and pursue.

As humans, we falter, and in that faltering, we can lose ourselves. Without a North Star metric, we risk measuring ourselves against the standards of others or even against our own poorly considered expectations. By defining our own worth, we can remain steadfast in our self-improvement—taking the necessary hits to grow without breaking. This doesn't mean shielding ourselves from critical reflection, but if you're going to feel bad about yourself, do so on your own terms.

You can have more than one North Star metric, and you use them to evaluate yourself. Judging yourself is not inherently wrong—in fact, it's vital. If we want to become the best version of ourselves, we must be able to assess our own actions and strive to be as objective as possible.

Cut to a younger Phil, sitting in his car aboard a ferry disembarking onto Guernsey. He had just scratched an SUV far more luxurious than his beat-up Ford Fiesta, and its driver communicated their disdain of Phil with a look.

Inside Phil’s mind, he contemplated his next steps. After disembarking, he would be settling permanently in Guernsey, and to legally drive his car, he’d be changing his license plate—tomorrow. He could easily share his details with the irate woman, knowing he’d likely never see her again. The odds were in his favor; he could walk away from the incident without paying a dime.

To know that this isn’t Phil's first time in a situation like this is important. His past would suggest he’s likely to get that new license plate lickity-split and spend the money meant for the damage on some dumb internet purchase.?

But this story, like many others of transformation, takes a more humble turn. Instead of dodging responsibility, Phil shared more details with the perfectly innocent and understandably irate woman than he needed to. He paid for the damage as soon as he could and went on to live a life free of whatever that dumb internet purchase would have been.

A simple act of honesty. Many of you reading this have practiced such acts since day one. Trust me, I feel shame at how long I took to learn this basic civility. But I share the story to emphasize the importance of having a North Star. In my early twenties, I did a lot of much-needed introspection, and honesty became my guiding principle during that time. It informed this small act and many others that followed. By consistently sailing in that direction, honesty became second nature to me. Through regular reflection on this North Star, I changed an aspect of my character that I didn’t like.

Equally, the world is vast, and our focus is often narrow. It is important not to become one-dimensional through your metrics. To steady you when you've lost your way is their primary function. In times of turmoil, they help ground you so you can make better decisions. However, if you obsess over your North Star when the sun shines, you'll miss the beauty of the view before you.

This article is for those of you who may feel lost or have felt lost before. A reminder that you are never truly lost just because you don't know where you are. You're only lost when you don't know where you're going. Even if you find yourself successful in life, surrounded by comfort, if you don't know your direction, you're still lost—just comfortably so.

You can discover your North Star in countless ways—whether in the moral dilemma of honesty after a car accident, in the depths of self-doubt while learning how to teach, or in quiet contemplation with a coffee in hand. The key is creating space—an environment where you can honestly reflect on your experiences or your ideals. Once you find that twinkling light in the night sky, it’s crucial to keep it in sight. The true measure of a person’s life is in their actions. In other words, simply seeing your North Star isn't enough; you have to sail toward it. And that requires action—hoisting the mainsail and moving forward. Act your ideal.

What is your North Star as an educator, and how does it guide not only your professional actions but also your personal growth? Share your experience!

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Carol S. Dweck - 2006 - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Random House

Mitch Albom - 1997 - Tuesdays with Morrie - Warner

James Clear? - 2018 - Atomic Habits - Avery

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A less academic curriculum is a better curriculum - 2023FEB