Goals and guides are big part of our lives these days. Getting clarity around what they are and how we relate to them can be the crucial difference between achieving success or ending in failure. This can be particularly important when embarking on a change or growth trajectory, as often times we have a lot at stake and are marshalling significant resources to apply to our work. A question I often ask my clients here is simply “North what? North Carolina, the North Star, or the North Pole?”

North Carolina is simply a stand-in for a specific destination, with clear boundaries and tangible benefits that come with arriving there. It can be well defined in advance, and the required action plans for getting there can be fairly well articulated. Good examples of North Carolina goals include “make Partner in 18 months,” or “increase net profitability by 20% in Q4.” These are concrete goals. They are specific, measurable, and framed with clear benefits in mind.

The North Star, on the other hand, is not a destination but instead a point of reference. For our intents and purposes here it is fixed, stable, and always visible. One can look to it for directional assist and as a way to vector check the tracking of progress over time. Good North Star examples include checking your year-to-date personal sales against year-end bonus benchmarks or tracking your company’s ongoing performance in key metrics against industry standards and averages. The point here is that having a North Star guidepost in place allows you to make both course and strategy corrections if and as needed.

The North Pole is a different story. It sounds like a tangible place, like North Carolina, but the amount of “there” there is unclear. Perhaps the arrival point or actual final destination is inherently vague, or maybe its defined in multiple ways that don’t necessarily align or connect with each other and instead create confusion. Examples of common North Pole goals I hear include “getting recognized” or “making it big.”

I use “North Pole” to describe goals like these for three reasons. #1, they sound good, but much like the geographic North Pole, what does getting there actually mean? The precise geographic North Pole is a chunk of ice somewhere near the top of the world upon which the Earth’s axis rotates, but how to precisely measure that with any degree of certainty is difficult. Even if you get in the right ballpark, a quick look around for 100 miles in every direction reveals the exact same landscape and vista. Unlike North Carolina, there aren’t tangible benefits to be realized upon arrival, or even a clear border in place to let you know that you’ve arrived.

Reason #2, the magnetic “North Pole” is a whole different phenomenon, inherently dynamic and not at all confined to any particular place. In fact, it was as far south as 70 degrees North Latitude in Canada in 1900 before moving back closer to the geographic North Pole in 2017 (90 degrees) and is now racing back south towards Russia. What does “getting there” even mean, and how can you actually know where you are when the very compass you are using functions less well the closer you get? And how to coordinate with another team if they nod when hearing “North Pole” but are thinking geography instead of magnetism? Compared to the obviousness and objectivity of North Carolina, the magnetic North Pole is volatile and subject to variable interpretations.

Finally, #3 North Pole goals are the kind that can involve massive amounts of time, energy, and money. Countless early polar explorers perished in the cold darkness, unprepared for the rigor of the trip. And aside from imagined prestige, what’s really the bigger point? Sure, it’s good to have internally justified goals in play in your life, the kind that exist for their own reasons. But these absolutely should not have a high probability of catastrophic risk tied to them, nor should they have anything that resembles “visiting Santa Claus” as their starting rationale.

In sum, seek to refine your thinking around your goals and guides. Get your North Carolina goals clarified and plot out your plans and timelines for getting there. Figure out your North Star points of internal and external reference and chart your progress accordingly from time to time. Be quick to course correct and adjust strategies as needed.

Finally, uncover and identify anything that slightly resembles a North Pole goal and either refine into a North Carolina destination, reimagine it as a North Star guide, or simply chuck it entirely.