I first learned about the navigators who crossed thousands of miles of open ocean on wooden canoes as a Ph.D. student in Cognitive Studies. We were studying the mental models used by different experts that allowed them to do things that regular people cannot. Included were examples of  taxi drivers in New York City, chess masters, and the Polynesian navigators. 

The taxi drivers and chess masters made sense to me, because they rely on large and flexible knowledge bases developed over ten years or more, giving them the ability to understand their topic deeply. For example, many taxi drivers use landmarks to navigate their way through NYC. And chess masters remember combinations of chess pieces that are either in attack or defense positions, allowing them to create a large library of “moves.” 

Similarly, Polynesian navigators spend years learning how the star constellations will appear in the night sky along what could be a 3,000 mile journey. I imagined them swinging their way across the night sky from constellation to constellation — like I used to swing on the monkey bars at recess. And yet, their ability to successfully navigate requires more than expertise – Polynesian navigators have a completely different way of viewing themselves in relation to their environment from the Western model. My first glimpse into their world happened when I read an article describing how these navigators use a mental construct of viewing their canoe as stationary on the ocean. Using this viewpoint, the islands around them are moving by day and the stars above them move by night. This change in perspective is a completely different way of navigating from using a map. The entire journey is about staying in alignment and allowing the island to swim towards them. As Dr. Spiller says, “By staying still and adjusting to the signs – eventually the island comes to the waka. It is not just about the stars, the sun, the clouds, swells or the winds – it is the whole interrelationship between these things.” (Wayfinding Leadership, pg. 36)

When working with my students, I employ a similar mental construct by using the Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) assessment as a foundation. Students learn how to recognize what it feels like when they are in alignment with their own authentic natural abilities, interests, goals and values. Highlands calls this  “whole self alignment”—taught  by their Whole Person Model. Whole Self Alignment is also a concept the Polynesian  wayfinders use. The more we know ourselves, the more clarity we can have when making decisions about our future, even if that future is just later that same day.

When applying for summer programs and extracurricular leadership positions, I teach students to pull from the field of possibilities and never say no to themselves. To quote what my students have come to call K.C.’s 10% rule, “you might get told no 90% of the time, but 10% of the time, you’ll get it.” The point of this rule is to get them comfortable with rejection and to keep their hope alive. During the tough parts of their journey, we talk about how uncomfortable it is to build capacity in ourselves because it means carving out space, which requires grit, persistence and discipline. The magic happens when persistence and planning meet on the field of possibilities. 

Whole self alignment comes when we are deeply embedded in our environment and the present moment we are living in now. For wayfinders, time is a mental construct: we are both the canoe and the island. For students, you’re both in high school and already at college. You’re calling your future to your present by your actions today. This is alignment. 

By the time spring of senior year arrives, and it is time to make a decision, I ask each precious student to consider, which college are they most in alignment with? And which college was swimming towards them? In a way, all of us are at the center of our own universes and our future swims towards us every night as we sleep. And just like how the navigators swing on the monkey bars of the constellations in the night sky to guide them across the ocean, so too, do we require the persistence, planning, and imagination to keep swinging towards the future that has also been making its way towards us all along.