North Star - Mirror

A value-alignment card deck to clarify where you are, where you’re going, and what must never change.

by
North Star - Mirror

Use this deck as a playful companion when you’re unsure where your life or company is heading. Each card shows two opposite values: one at the top, one at the bottom. The tension between them helps you see your current alignment and your desired future.

How to play:

  1. Scan & Sort – Shuffle the deck. Quickly sort cards into three piles: Important, Maybe, Not now.
  2. Current Alignment – For each Important card, decide where you are today: closer to the top word or the bottom word? Tilt the card physically toward that side.
  3. Future Alignment – Now decide where you want to be in 2–5 years. Tilt the card again. Notice which cards flip sides.
  4. Map the Gap – The cards that changed alignment show your biggest value gaps. These are your priority areas for change.
  5. North Star Compass – Choose:
    • 3 values you must change (from/to)
    • 3 values that must never change (your energy source)

Use the cards in workshops, coaching sessions, strategic retreats, or solo reflection. Combine cards, create “value conflicts,” or ask: What would we decide differently if we truly lived this value?

valuesstrategyself-reflectionleadershipteamcoachingfuturevisionculturepersonal-growth

Identity & Integrity

These cards help you define what must never change—your deep identity—and where you might need to evolve to stay true to yourself over time.
Authenticity ↕ Reputation
Do you act from your truth or from how you want to be seen?
Authenticity ↕ Reputation
Identity & Integrity

Authenticity ↕ Reputation

This card reveals whether you’re guided more by inner truth or outer perception.

  • Authenticity (top): You act in line with your real beliefs and feelings, even if it’s messy.
  • Image (bottom): You manage reputation, brand, and appearances, even if it means some compromise.

Reflect:

  • Where are we performing instead of being real?
  • Where is image management actually necessary and wise?
  • For our future, do we need to move toward more authenticity or more conscious image-building?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Specialisation ↕ Versatility
Are you defined by one thing or many?
Specialisation ↕ Versatility
Identity & Integrity

Specialisation ↕ Versatility

This card examines whether your identity is specialized or multi-faceted.

  • Depth (top): You are known for one core strength or domain.
  • Breadth (bottom): You are known for versatility, range, and many interests.

Reflect:

  • What do we want to be famous for?
  • Where does breadth dilute our identity—or where does depth trap us?
  • For our future, do we need to deepen or diversify?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Service ↕ Self-Interest
Do you exist mainly to serve others or to serve yourself?
Service ↕ Self-Interest
Identity & Integrity

Service ↕ Self-Interest

This card surfaces your core motive: giving versus gaining.

  • Service (top): You orient around helping, uplifting, and creating value for others.
  • Self-Interest (bottom): You orient around your own benefit, security, and success.

Use it to explore:

  • Who are we really here for?
  • Where is healthy self-interest missing—or where is service just branding?
  • For our North Star, what mix of service and self-interest feels honest and energizing?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Consistency ↕ Reinvention
Do you stay the same or keep redefining yourself?
Consistency ↕ Reinvention
Identity & Integrity

Consistency ↕ Reinvention

This card explores your relationship with staying recognizable versus changing identity over time.

  • Consistency (top): You value reliability, tradition, and a stable sense of self.
  • Reinvention (bottom): You value evolution, new chapters, and shedding old skins.

Use it to ask:

  • What about us must never change?
  • Where are we clinging to an old identity that no longer fits?
  • For our North Star, which elements are anchors and which are sails?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers

Growth & Learning

These cards focus on how you grow, learn, and respond to feedback and failure. Use them to design a learning culture or a personal development path.
Feedback ↕ Autonomy
Do you invite input or protect your independence?
Feedback ↕ Autonomy
Growth & Learning

Feedback ↕ Autonomy

This card examines how you balance outside perspectives with self-direction.

  • Feedback (top): You seek critique, listen, and adjust.
  • Autonomy (bottom): You trust your own judgment and move without much input.

Use it to explore:

  • Where do we resist feedback because it feels threatening?
  • Where do we over-consult and lose momentum?
  • For our desired future, which side needs more space?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Experimentation ↕ Perfection
Do you ship rough drafts or wait until it’s flawless?
Experimentation ↕ Perfection
Growth & Learning

Experimentation ↕ Perfection

This card highlights your stance toward trying things early versus polishing before release.

  • Experimentation (top): You prototype, iterate, and learn from small failures.
  • Perfection (bottom): You refine, optimize, and aim for high standards before showing work.

Use it to ask:

  • Where are we afraid to experiment?
  • Where does perfectionism slow us down unnecessarily?
  • For our next chapter, which side should lead?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Resilience ↕ Comfort
Do you stretch into challenge or stay where it’s easy?
Resilience ↕ Comfort
Growth & Learning

Resilience ↕ Comfort

This card surfaces your relationship with discomfort and growth.

  • Resilience (top): You face setbacks, stay in the arena, and grow through difficulty.
  • Comfort (bottom): You seek ease, familiarity, and low-stress environments.

Reflect:

  • Where are we avoiding necessary discomfort?
  • Where are we glorifying struggle when rest is needed?
  • For our future, what balance of resilience and comfort is healthy?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Learning ↕ Knowing
Are you more curious or more certain?
Learning ↕ Knowing
Growth & Learning

Learning ↕ Knowing

This card explores whether you value ongoing discovery or being the expert.

  • Learning (top): You ask questions, test assumptions, and stay open.
  • Knowing (bottom): You rely on expertise, past experience, and clear answers.

Reflect:

  • Where does our need to be right block learning?
  • Where does endless learning delay decisions?
  • For our future, do we need to lean into more learning or more confident knowing?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers

Work Style & Focus

These cards deal with how you work: speed, quality, risk, and structure. Use them to clarify what “good work” means for you or your organization.
Risk ↕ Safety
Do you lean into bold bets or proven paths?
Risk ↕ Safety
Work Style & Focus

Risk ↕ Safety

This card surfaces your appetite for taking chances versus protecting what you have.

  • Risk (top): You experiment, try new things, and accept possible failure.
  • Safety (bottom): You minimize downside, follow proven methods, and protect stability.

Reflect:

  • Where are we playing too safe to grow?
  • Where are we taking risks we can’t afford?
  • For our desired future, which side needs more weight?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Speed ↕ Quality
Do you move fast or get it right?
Speed ↕ Quality
Work Style & Focus

Speed ↕ Quality

This card reveals your bias between shipping quickly and crafting carefully.

  • Speed (top): You value momentum, quick feedback, and first-mover advantage.
  • Quality (bottom): You value robustness, polish, and reliability, even if it takes longer.

Reflect:

  • Where has rushing hurt us? Where has over-perfecting slowed us down?
  • Which side do our deadlines and rewards actually support?
  • For our future, do we need to tilt toward faster or better?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Structure ↕ Flexibility
Do you thrive on clear rules or open space?
Structure ↕ Flexibility
Work Style & Focus

Structure ↕ Flexibility

This card explores your comfort with defined systems versus adaptive freedom.

  • Structure (top): You like clear processes, roles, and plans.
  • Flexibility (bottom): You like improvisation, fluid roles, and changing plans as you go.

Use it to ask:

  • Where do rigid rules block creativity?
  • Where does too much freedom create chaos?
  • For our next phase, what kind of structure–flexibility mix do we need?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Focus ↕ Variety
Do you go deep on one thing or wide on many?
Focus ↕ Variety
Work Style & Focus

Focus ↕ Variety

This card examines whether you prefer concentration or diversity of activities.

  • Focus (top): You narrow down, say no often, and go deep.
  • Variety (bottom): You explore many options, keep things fresh, and juggle multiple streams.

Use it to explore:

  • Are we spread too thin—or stuck in a narrow lane?
  • What would we have to stop doing to truly focus?
  • For our future, do we need more focus or more variety?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers

Core Direction

Cards in this category focus on big-picture direction: why you exist, where you’re going, and how you choose between competing priorities. Use them to clarify your North Star and test if your current path matches your deeper intent.
Purpose ↕ Profit
Are you driven more by meaning or by money when you make big decisions?
Purpose ↕ Profit
Core Direction

Purpose ↕ Profit

This card explores the tension between doing what feels deeply meaningful and optimizing for financial gain.

  • Purpose (top): You prioritize impact, contribution, and alignment with your deeper “why,” even if it costs time or money.
  • Profit (bottom): You prioritize revenue, margins, and financial security, even if the work feels less meaningful.

Use this card to ask:

  • When we’re under pressure, which side wins: purpose or profit?
  • Where do we say we are, and where do our actual decisions place us?
  • For our desired future, do we need to move upward (more purpose) or downward (more profit focus)?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Stability ↕ Change
Do you protect what is or pursue what could be?
Stability ↕ Change
Core Direction

Stability ↕ Change

This card surfaces your comfort with keeping things as they are versus actively transforming them.

  • Stability (top): You value predictability, reliability, and continuity. You protect what works.
  • Change (bottom): You value evolution, experimentation, and reinvention. You’re willing to disrupt the status quo.

Use it to explore:

  • Are we clinging to stability where change is needed—or changing things that should stay stable?
  • What would a healthy balance look like for our next 2–3 years?
  • Which side gives us energy, and which side triggers fear?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Vision ↕ Execution
Do you live in ideas or in getting things done?
Vision ↕ Execution
Core Direction

Vision ↕ Execution

This card highlights the pull between imagining the future and delivering results now.

  • Vision (top): You dream, explore, and design bold futures. You’re comfortable with ambiguity and long horizons.
  • Execution (bottom): You focus on tasks, deadlines, and concrete outputs. You’re grounded in what can be done today.

Reflect with this card:

  • Are we stuck dreaming without shipping, or shipping without dreaming?
  • Which side do we reward more in our culture?
  • For our next chapter, do we need to tilt toward more vision or more execution?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Short-Term ↕ Long-Term
Are you optimizing for this quarter or the next decade?
Short-Term ↕ Long-Term
Core Direction

Short-Term ↕ Long-Term

This card reveals whether you’re guided more by immediate results or enduring outcomes.

  • Short-Term (top): You focus on quick wins, urgent tasks, and near-term metrics.
  • Long-Term (bottom): You invest in foundations, relationships, and systems that pay off later.

Reflect:

  • When we’re stressed, do we sacrifice the long-term for the short-term?
  • Which side do our incentives and habits actually support?
  • For our desired future, what would it mean to shift our center of gravity?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers

People & Culture

These cards explore how you relate to people: trust, collaboration, leadership, and emotional climate. Use them in team workshops or personal reflection about how it *feels* to work or live together.
Empathy ↕ Performance
Do you care more about how people feel or what they deliver?
Empathy ↕ Performance
People & Culture

Empathy ↕ Performance

This card highlights the balance between caring for people and demanding results.

  • Empathy (top): You prioritize well-being, listening, and psychological safety.
  • Performance (bottom): You prioritize outcomes, standards, and accountability.

Reflect:

  • Where do we excuse poor performance in the name of kindness?
  • Where do we push so hard that people burn out?
  • For our desired future, what does a healthy tension look like?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Trust ↕ Control
Do you lead by trusting people or by tightly steering them?
Trust ↕ Control
People & Culture

Trust ↕ Control

This card examines whether your default stance is empowering others or managing them closely.

  • Trust (top): You assume positive intent, give autonomy, and accept some messiness.
  • Control (bottom): You set strict rules, monitor closely, and minimize risk through oversight.

Questions to explore:

  • Where do we over-control because we’re afraid of mistakes?
  • Where has trust paid off—or backfired—in the past?
  • For our future, do we need to lean into more trust or more control?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Individual ↕ Collective
Do you prioritize the person or the group?
Individual ↕ Collective
People & Culture

Individual ↕ Collective

This card explores whether you lean toward personal needs or group needs.

  • Individual (top): You focus on personal growth, autonomy, and tailored solutions.
  • Collective (bottom): You focus on team cohesion, shared goals, and fairness across the group.

Use it to ask:

  • Do we reward solo heroes or team players?
  • Where do individual preferences override what’s best for the whole—and vice versa?
  • For our future, which side needs more weight?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers
Candor ↕ Harmony
Do you tell the hard truth or keep the peace?
Candor ↕ Harmony
People & Culture

Candor ↕ Harmony

This card surfaces your tension between speaking openly and maintaining peace.

  • Candor (top): You value honesty, direct feedback, and naming the elephant in the room.
  • Harmony (bottom): You value calm, politeness, and avoiding conflict, even if some truths stay unspoken.

Reflect:

  • What do we not say because we want to stay nice?
  • Where has radical honesty helped—or hurt—us?
  • For our next chapter, do we need more candor or more harmony?
Jord Rengerve - The Serious Gamers

Deck created by

Unknown User
Member