Made in Essex with Will Polston, author of North Star Thinking.
Now a leading business performance coach, Will Polston overcame the misconception that money equalled happiness. It led him to redefine success — and focus on aligning his actions with his true values.
Will Polston is a renowned business performance coach and author of North Star Thinking: Master Your Mindset and Live a Life You Love. With the belief that money equalled happiness, Polston initially pursued financial success, only to realise it wasn’t his true driver. After a pivotal realisation over a decade ago, he shifted his focus to personal development and helping others find their purpose. Today, Polston guides entrepreneurs in aligning their actions with their core values, emphasising the importance of meaningful progress over chasing fleeting goals.
.
When-Then Syndrome: The Trap of Chasing Temporary Goals
“One of the things that I’ve realised is so many people chase something only to realise that when they’ve achieved it, it’s not what they want.
I call that ‘when then’ syndrome. When I achieve this, then I’ll be okay. When I achieve that, then I’ll be all right.
When I achieve whatever, then I’ll be at peace, calm. And they just pin ball through life doing this and end up really dissatisfied and really frustrated. And I get it because I was that person.”
Rather than endlessly chasing external goals, Will suggests adopting a “North Star”—a mission so grand that it fuels ongoing fulfilment. This shift, he argues, transforms daily efforts from a demoralising grind into a source of energy and progress.
The Moment I Realised It Was Never About the Money
“I grew up with a belief that money equalled happiness, realised 11 years ago now that actually my real driver was nothing to do with money, it was through my dad.
I call it a lightning moment, you know, like a light bulb moment on steroids, and that was the real big realisation where it unravelled everything that I’d believed for sort of probably coming up to 15 years prior to that.”
This profound realisation shifted Will’s entire approach, steering him away from chasing financial success and towards building a meaningful life based on personal values and purpose
Break Free from the Rope Holding You Back
In one of the most powerful metaphors of the episode, Will shares a story about how elephants are trained in Thailand: “You see these huge, majestic beasts being held by a tiny rope… When they’re baby elephants, they try to break free but eventually give up. Even as adults, they believe they can’t escape that rope.”
This story serves as a metaphor for how limiting beliefs hold us back. Will challenges listeners to test these beliefs, break free, and embrace new paradigms that allow them to achieve more than they ever thought possible.
Will Polston was talking to Jill Willis, Director of Attract & Engage and host of the Made in Essex Podcast. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the next episode, featuring the county’s most tenacious and successful business leaders lifting the bonnet on their entrepreneurial stories.
Check the full episode below or listen wherever you get your podcasts👇
Keep your eyes peeled for more episodes as Jill invites the county’s most tenacious and successful business leaders to lift the bonnet on their entrepreneurial stories.
Made in Essex – The Podcast With Will Polston
Follow our socials for more updates or listen to more episodes here. 👀
Previous episodes…
Andy Thorne, CEO of Kestrel Group, the King’s favourite international shipping agency.
John Gladman, MD of AVRT Training, a tech business that’s making the way emergency services and military personnel train for difficult scenarios safer and more realistic.
Marc Jones, Business Director of Antobot, an award-winning start-up providing affordable robotics for sustainable agriculture.