Your Story Is Already In The Stars

Every story worth telling starts with scattered points of light - kind of like the nighttime stars before we drew constellations between them. The stories we love, the stories we hate, the stories that shape our lives - they're all constellations waiting to be connected.

Dots in the sky. That’s it. Until we draw the lines.

I've been thinking about this lately as I rebuild my own strategy (more on that in yesterday's post). It's one thing to look up at someone else's constellation and critique the pattern they drew. It's another thing entirely to stand in the dark with your own points of light, deciding which connections to make.

Take the Super Bowl Halftime show. Sure, it's easy to wave it off as “just another pop spectacle.” But that's like dismissing the North Star as “just another bright dot” or the big dipper as “just another floating god spoon.” The fascinating strategy puzzle here is: How do you craft 13 minutes of entertainment that connects with 100 million viewers across generations? Every song choice, every guest appearance, every visual element - these aren't random points of light. They're dots carefully selected and sequenced to tell a specific story.*

Even if stadium-sized spectacles aren't your goal, there's wisdom in studying how others connect their dots. Because here's the truth about strategy: We're all curators of our own constellations.

You get to be your own map maker. Don't miss that power. Just because somebody else already charted one course through the stars doesn't mean those are the only connections worth drawing. Your constellation might guide different travelers to different destinations.

So as you move forward, collecting your own dots of experience, ask yourself:

• What constellation are you trying to draw?

• Which points of light will you gather?

• Which points of light will you deliberately leave unconnected?

• What makes your pattern uniquely meaningful?

• How will other travelers recognize your stars as a guide?

The beauty of strategy is that it's both art and science - part intentional design, part embracing the unexpected bright spots that appear along the way. Because sometimes the most brilliant constellations include stars you never planned to connect.

(I'm deep in this work myself right now, and I help others navigate their own dot-connecting journeys professionally. If you're curious about crafting your own constellation, let's talk.)

*yes, all the post-Kendrick Lamar halftime performance talk is still on my mind. Read my riff on his show here.