The North Star, also called Polaris, is the bright star that sits almost directly above Earth's North Pole. For thousands of years, travelers used it to find their way because, unlike other stars that appear to move across the sky as the night progresses, the North Star stays in roughly the same spot. If you face the North Star, you're facing north. Sailors crossing oceans, traders moving across deserts, and enslaved people escaping to freedom all relied on this steady point of light to guide them.

The term has also come to mean any guiding principle or goal that helps you make decisions and stay on course. A scientist might say that curiosity is her North Star, meaning it guides all her work. A business might use customer satisfaction as its North Star, letting that goal direct every choice they make. When you're trying to decide between different options, your North Star is whatever matters most to you: the value or goal that helps you choose wisely. Just like the actual star in the sky, a North Star keeps you from getting lost when you're not sure which direction to go.