Following my North Start

Following my north star...

It’s been a summer of sports and very little sunshine, and at the moment TV and news is being dominated by the Olympics!

I've not been an avid viewer, but I caught some of the cycling and swimming, and was thrilled on Saturday as Team GB won Gold at the rowing in the Men’s Eight, which reminded me of an entrepreneur’s event I attended in 2012!

At this event at the ICC in Birmingham, Olympian Ben Hunt-Davis shared his story with us of when he was part of the Gold medal winning team, in the Men’s Eight, at Sydney in 2000.

After a less than award winning performance at another games, Ben gave an inspirational talk about how he and his fellow Olympians went from ‘good’ (after all they qualified for the games) to genuine contenders in just 2 years.

They were all committed to do their absolute best so they could leave the games with a medal – but as we all know, with long term goals, life can get in the way and with so much time ahead of you, it’s easy to become distracted!

So, they made a pact on how they could avoid distractions if they were to achieve their goal.

When it came to making decisions, they needed a tool and that decision making tool was to ask themselves ONE question.

Every 'thing' in their life, every choice, every minute of every day, was governed and dictated by their decision making question…

"Will it make the boat go faster?"

And if the answer was no, then it wasn’t going to happen!

This was B-I-G take-away for everyone who was there that day!

I’m no rower, but I have a plan and I know where I’m heading and what I need to prioritise to get there. So, my decision-making question is ‘Will it take me to my North Star?’

In the past I’ve been distracted by new, bright and shiny stuff that promises but doesn’t quite deliver, so as a tool, this is soooo important to me right now!

Shall I binge watch that new Netflix series with a bottle of wine and a pizza?

Will it get me to my North Star? NO!

Shall I create a new lead magnet and write that new email sequence to attract a bigger audience?

Will it get me to my North Star? HELL YES!

I know these are easy to answer, but you’ll all have had distractions that have taken you off track, and I’m definitely not saying don’t watch that new series on Netflix – but I am saying that if you’re really determined to reach your North Star – priorities the stuff that gets you there quicker…