What Is Your North Star Metric? (3 Questions to Help You Figure it Out)

“The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus” — Bruce Lee

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I was getting my coffee order at Starbucks when I saw the above wall.

I went in expecting to enjoy my Cup of Joe but came out with an anxious brain trying to come up with a solid answer to the question —

Which statistic in your lifetime would you be most curious about?

Thanks, Starbucks for giving me a mini-existential crisis!

To be honest, it’s easy to answer a stat that I’d be curious about. It could be anything from the total # of coffees I’ve consumed to the # of places I ended up traveling to.

But if we take this mental exercise a step further, the deeper question that emerges is:

What is the single most important indicator that you define your life by? Put another way, what is your North Star Metric?

Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

Before you try to answer the question, some history to set the context…

The term ‘North Star Metric’ (NSM) draws its origins in Silicon Valley. It was developed to help tech businesses focus on a singular target that can move the needle on accelerating the business so they don’t get distracted by shiny objects. To qualify as a NSM, a metric needs to have 3 components — be measurable, add customer value and drive revenue.

LinkedIn’s NSM is the number of monthly active users.

Quora’s NSM is the number of questions answered.

Airbnb’s NSM is the number of nights booked.

Spotify’s NSM is the amount of time spent listening on the platform.

Zoom’s NSM is the number of weekly hosted meetings.

Amazon’s NSM is the number of active prime subscribers.

To be fair, each NSM usually consists of a subset of metrics. It’s also possible for an organization to have multiple NSMs especially if they have diverse product lines.

But the point of the exercise is to simplify a complex business down to its bare basics. A single indicator that is most predictive of a business’s success. If the NSM indicator doesn’t perform well, it’s a clear sign the business is flatlining or failing to achieve its growth objectives.

Enough business talk. My point in writing this article is to steal the NSM framework from the corporate world and apply it to your personal life. Why? Chances are that if you’re reading this piece, you’re likely an ambitious person who wants to live a meaningful life.

When I tried to answer what is my NSM in life, I felt stumped. It triggered intense journaling about my values, what I want out of life, and my legacy. Unless you already have your life blueprint figured out, this question will likely introduce chaos and deep soul-searching in your world.

Now that I’ve warned you of the side effects, let’s get right into how I figured out my NSM. Perhaps my story can spark some ideas in you.

I subscribe to humanist philosophy. The best way to capture the essence of humanism is by following the ‘Golden Rule’:

‘Treat other people as you’d want to be treated in their situation.’

Said another way, do not treat people badly unless you want the same to happen to you. It’s a basic principle I use to strive to live an ethical life and to minimize burdens on my conscience so I can sleep well at night.

Humanism embodies values like science, reason, service to humanity, empathy, compassion, etc. Humanism is why I’ve intentionally concentrated most of my academic and professional experiences in the healthcare industry.

Healthcare is unique because it’s one of the few industries where you can create a direct social impact that can either save lives or improve the quality of lives of many vulnerable people.

Health is highly personal and intimate. The reality is that every one of us is going to interact with the healthcare system at some point in life. Usually as either a sick patient or a caregiver of a loved one dealing with health challenges.

With that being said, my NSM is the # of lives I’ve impacted positively. Directly and indirectly.

I find the NSM exercise insightful because it can help you determine the single biggest indicator to evaluate your life. This creates a sense of urgency. The urgency to get your life together. The urgency to orient your daily/weekly/monthly actions in service of your NSM. The urgency to track your progress (or lack thereof) and record wins and challenges.

For some, their NSM might be making loads of money.

OR seeking new experiences in life

OR creating and providing for their family

Whatever NSM you choose, realize that it’s going to take decades of blood, sweat, and tears to meaningfully fulfill your mission. The most important ingredient is the ability to develop an obsessive focus to achieve a singular goal and keep going, especially when times are tough.

3 Key Questions to Guide the Search for Your North Star:

1. Imagine yourself at the end of life and ask yourself what would you regret not doing the most.
2. What is the 1 thing(s) that sparks your curiosity, joy, or any other strong emotion? In other words, what fires the neurons in your brain, or what makes you come alive? Go in that direction.
3. Use the Anti-Goals Framework. This is based on the Inversion Principle (read my blog on this here) — What activities or outcomes do you want to avoid in your life? Once this is identified, work backward to determine your course of action to avoid experiencing said unwanted outcomes. Indirectly, this exercise will help you discover what you value most highly and how to optimize your life to live in alignment with those values. Sahil Bloom wrote an excellent blog post describing the ‘Anti-Goals Framework’ that you can read in more detail here.

Personally, the question that truly unlocked my NSM was visualizing my end. I don’t say this to be morbid. I find thinking about death to be a powerful technique to reframe my mindset. Every problem pales in comparison to our impending death.

Few things are certain in life except death.

Logically speaking, everything that has a beginning (birth) will have an end (death). What’s unknown is the amount of time we have between these two points. This in-between limbo period is where we live life.

If I were to die tomorrow or at the ripe old age of 80, I want to have some degree of peace and satisfaction that my actions counted. That I committed to a cause greater than myself, aka, I followed my North Star and dedicated my efforts to getting one step closer to my mission.

What is your NSM? Do you agree or disagree with this approach to life? Tell me in the comments below!