Life is a journey so analogies relating to navigation or travel are helpful. For thousands of years travelers have relied on physical markers to let them know they were headed in the right direction. Two of these are lodestars and milestones.
Guiding stars are not ultimate destinations but they point you in the direction you want to go. . They can be a guiding principles, interests or an ambitions. These are the things that are important to you.
You can think of guiding stars as showing the way to your life's purpose, roles that you want to fulfill or simply things you'd like to be good at. They can be wildly fantastic or simply stages in your life that you see others achieving. The key is that lodestars are yours and nobody can take them away from you. They point the way to your success as only you can define it. You may not know how to get there but guiding stars give you something to focus your attention on while you figure out how to get there.
It helps to take some time and really think about what your guiding stars are. Think about the why behind whatever you do, then ask the why behind that reason. Commit your answers to paper. Put them away but review them once in a while. This can help you make choices about the things you spend your time on.
Are you following your guiding stars?
Having identified the guiding stars in your life is important. However they don’t mean much if you don’t use them to reach your ultimate destinations. But how do you know that despite all your efforts you are actually getting closer to your destination?
Milestones help you mark specific points in your development. Milestones tell you either how much farther you have to go or how much you have already gone past. If a milestone is aligned with your lodestar you know you are on the correct path.
Achieving a number of milestones in the direction of your guiding stars is what I think will give you a continuing sense of accomplishment