Are you resisting the hero’s journey?

Our life is one huge journey, made up of a series of smaller journeys.  The choice for all of us is whether we see ourselves as the hero or the observer.  The role we choose to take determines our success in life, and by success I mean our ability to handle life and come out on top.

The hero’s journey is a map that can guide us as we negotiate our way through life and all it’s challenges and opportunities for growth.  It is the universal story of human development and if it didn’t work so well, we wouldn’t have a film industry, tv or best selling books.  What’s more for many of us that’s the only medium through which we learn about the hero’s journey, as a passive construct, rather than understanding it in a practical and personal context.

I’ve been working with and teaching the hero’s journey for many years now and I’ve been persuaded (ok it didn’t take much), by Chris Cooper of Be More Achieve More to share more of what I know with his clients on a teleseminar on the 27th July.  So you’re also invited too.  

During the call I’ll be answering questions like:-

- What is the Heroes Journey?

- How can it help us in a personal and a business context?

- What are the signs we’re resisting taking the journey and what are the implications?

 - What resources do we have access to that can help us through our journey?

 Plus there will be time for you to ask me your questions.

I’m currently teaching several coaches to use this in their work, here’s what one of them recently sent to me after her last coaching session “Just wanted to say a huge thank you , you are simply amazing and I can’t thank you enough for the insight you have given me.” 

 I do know what a difference understanding the hero’s journey has on life and so I hope you’ll join Chris and I on the 27th July at 8pm.  To register fill in the form below

Authentic Leadership Development – Using archetypes to improve your emotional intelligence

Ruler seeks Magician to help restore the kingdom

Jester seeks Creator to get right outside the box

Damsel in distress seeks knight, must have own horse.

The examples at the beginning may seem like strange lonely heart ads, but they’re universal patterns that we function around.

Take great movies like ET, Harry Potter, Pretty Woman, Cinderella, and those up for Oscars this year like Avatar.  Each is so powerful and successful because the characters embody a clear archetype and the story line is one we’re familiar with.  King Arthur needs his Merlin for Camelot to be healthy

An Archetype then is a root word that encodes a complete pattern.  If I said his leadership style is little Hitler you know exactly what I mean.

A picture may paint a thousand words, but archetypes convey everything in the word.  Archetypes carry the seed and energy in a universal language.  What’s so powerful is that you respond at a deep unconscious level and either the archetype draws you in or you pull away quickly.

Within business we’re also running our personal archetypal patterns.

The thing about archetypes is that over time we develop our favourites, and we have those that we out and out reject.  Yet all have their place and purpose.  I remember when I first worked with my archetypes.  My destroyer had in the past done just that, destroyed, so when I really needed to let go of things that no longer served a purpose I didn’t, I hung on, and hung on, and then experienced situations where ‘the baby went out with the bath water’.  My experiences with that archetype hadn’t been pleasant, so when it was required, it ran me rather than me using it.  Not good, and even less so as a leader.  We can do all the Emotional Intelligence stuff in the world, but trust me when I say that Archetypes run much deeper, so if you haven’t got a handle on them then you can only go so far.  Now of course things are different, I can sense when the destroyer is required, so I pay attention, what do I need to let go of  – it could be something physical, like a good office tidy up, it could be mental, like a belief, it could be emotional, maybe I’m not being true to how I feel and I’ve been ignoring myself.  When I know what it is I can work with it, and the destroyer is an Allie.  I also appear way more Emotionally Intelligent – and I am, because I’m paying attention to signals from the core of who am I.

Archetypes then are free powerful resources with a specific purpose, if you’re not aware of them, then they run you, when you are aware of them then you can use them.

As a leader your success – and ability to run a productive business with a  highly engaged workforce – is determined by your level of self awareness.  If you’re ready to take huge leaps forward then join me in April where I’ll be helping 12 leaders understand their archetypal patterns, access these phenomenally powerful resources and use them productively.  You can find more information here on our Archetypal leadership development course or contact us to secure your place.

The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey – well we’re all on one, although we usually call it life.  Yet within our life we have multiple chapters or mini hero’s journey’s.  And for that matter so does an organisation.

Who am I and why am I here, are two questions we are in a permanent dance with.

Who are we and why are we here, are the two questions any team or organisation is in a permanent dance with.

Our sense of ‘Identity’ is fundamental to achieving what we want.  Without knowing what fulfils us or gives us a sense of meaning we are empty / frustrated, living a life of stress that was never meant to be.

To quote Joseph Campbell “when you follow your bliss doors will open that could only open for you.”

In other words when you are being true to yourself and doing what you’re really meant to do, then true wealth and success will be yours.

On the 4^th June I’ll share with you the hero’s journey and the 12 keys to success.  Best of all, it’s all on a complimentary one-time teleseminar that’s my gift to you, and one that’s also a content-rich preview to my upcoming Archetypal Leadership Event.

Each and every one of us is on our own unique hero’s journey
And most of us are doing it totally blind.

I can honestly say that once I learnt about the Hero’s Journey and Archetypes my current circumstances suddenly made a whole lot of sense.  Rather like a game of Ker Plunk, a lot of marbles dropped at once.

This is material I share with my private coaching clients, and amongst other things it helps them with their decision making.

In this 75 minute teleseminar you will learn:-

-         What the hero’s journey is.

-         What are the 4 phases, and which one are you in right now.

-         What are the 12 keys.

-         How the hero’s journey inter-twines with successful goal achievement.

-         How understanding the hero’s journey brings a sense of stability even in times of chaos or uncertainty.

If you’ve been looking to create more success in your life this call is for you.

To register for the Hero’s Journey tele-seminar click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

The impact clutter has on your goals

The first 2 letters of GOAL spell GO – Anon

Only 148 days to go to the end of 2008, today you are investing in you 218th day of the year.  Interesting if not slightly scary thought.  So how are you making progress with the goals you set yourself, either personally or at work? 

One of the most common reasons for people not making progress in their goal is because it isn’t very well thought out – more information on this in our August ezine.  Sign up if you haven’t already done so because as well as offering more in depth pragmatic material, it often features exclusive offers and advance invitations to our teleseminars and events.  

One other reason for slow goal progress is that you’ve got too much clutter in your life, your desk, office, wardrobe, wherever. If that’s affecting you then this tip will give you the burst you need.

How many cars are there in your garage?
The answer for me is 2, cos that’s what it was designed for. It also contains the bikes, lawnmower, BBQ, deckchair, buckets, birdseed, and the car wash / polish stuff. What else would you expect to find in a garage. 
Well some people seems to think it’s the natural home for old beds, tables, fridges, broken vac’s awaiting repair when you get the time, and anything else that you can no longer fit in the house but can’t or won’t dispose of. In the meantime your car sits out on the drive or road, not too bad in summer, but a pain in the middle of winter.

What’s her problem you may think, well if you want to start taking back control in you life, I find garages a nice easy place to start.  So get in there this weekend and take everything that’s of no use to anyone to the tip.  Then either repair the broken vacs or equivalent or bin them too.  Finally anything which could be of use to someone else either give away or advertise in your local newspaper / eBay.  On this last point be firm with yourself, if no-one takes it off your hands within 2 weeks bin the item as well.  Now you should have a lot more space and the items in your garage should be things you use on a regular basis, if the answer to this is “well not in the last 12 months” then get rid of that too.  Finally buy some shelving or brackets and utilise the wall space.  Whether you now choose to park your car in the garage, and there can be insurance premium advantages, is up to you, but hey at least you have a positive choice.

If you do this right, then trust me, when you open the garage door you’ll no longer feel overwhelmed by the sight of so much clutter, and you’ll have the energy to get on with the task you went into the garage for, rather than the commando run you probably had to do in the past.  Now just imagine if you can achieve that energy shift in your life from sorting out your garage what would happen if you did it in a bigger area of your life?  Don’t have a garage, well wardrobes are also lucrative places to start

Your Creator Archetype

Are you using your Creator fruitfully?

The Goal or purpose of the creator archetype is ‘creation of something new’. Fairly self explanatory then, so let’s look a little deeper. The gifts of this archetype or the resources available include creativity, vision, imagination, following your vocation and identity.

This archetype should be most obvious when we’re brainstorming, problem solving and setting the vision for our business. It should be allowed expression so that we can create our desired reality. However all too often it’s stamped down or worse out by the processes and conditioning of life. Children are initially very creative with make believe friends but as adults we do not approve of this, so they are encouraged to leave behind this form of creativity. Now I’m not suggesting for a minute that we have imaginary friends at work, but somewhere along the way perhaps some of us have had the creative stuffing knocked out.

People who can easily access the creator archetype tend to have many ideas, flights of fantasy, what if moments, and they’re not too attached to them in the first instance. It’s only when they’ve dwelled upon an idea that attachment forms. So these people are good at innovating and coming up with ideas to solve problems (both practical and impractical) they just don’t filter for a start. Of course if as an individual or a business you get too creative, then you need to ensure there is enough space to make things happen (and there is some element of market reality or demand) or you can go in to overload and nothing happens.

If we look at this from a leadership perspective then the creator archetype allows us to come up with the vision and describe it in such a way that others buy in and want to follow. If we look from a brand perspective then this archetype is about producing wonderful works of art a good example would be Apple Macintosh, especially the ipod.

Now of course if you draw upon creator a lot, then you may find yourself shying away from boring or routine work and people who lack imagination. On the other hand people may perceive you as eccentric or just weird. The Creator is also about vocation and identity, which means that if you’re working with people who see their work as just that, you may clash or just want more for them than they think they’re entitled too. Again our conditioning can mean that we see having a vocation as a luxury or worse still aspirational but totally unrealistic. Plus if you meet someone who’s playing roles, or bullshitting then you’re likely to kick off at their inauthenticity. You see a pure creator attitude would be “I have a dream…now I’m off to make it happen”.

Working with your creator archetype…..

If you’re a high creator then you should watch for the tendency to have too many ideas (not all market relevant) and not be able to act on any of them. Learn to get choosy and let go of things which no longer serve a purpose. You should also watch that you’re not a workaholic, with just one more thing to do before you go home.

If you’re a low creator then give yourself permission to have the odd daydream or flight of fantasy. Listen to your intuition and follow it a little longer. In fact spend the first 10 minutes of every morning mentally creating the perfect day, how do you want your meetings to work out, what do you want to achieve, how do you want to feel. You may begin to notice how more of what you dream becomes reality. Then again a few of you may notice that what you day dream and what really is has a large gap – if so this could be a sign that you’re in the wrong job or you’re having to curb your true identity in order to ‘fit in’.

We’ve all had dreams, some of us still have them and sadly even fewer go on to make them happen. Be one of the few, follow your dreams. If you’re not following your dreams you’re sure as hell following someone else’s and who decided theirs was more worthy than yours?

Try

“There is no such thing as try, only do or do not do” Yoda

Now he is a Sage (following on from my archetype post).  Anyway back to the word ‘Try’; a wonderful word that says reason for not doing it is already in the bag.  “I’ll try and get that report to you by Friday”, is very different from “I’ll get it to you by Friday”, the latter is confidence, certainty, promise.  Most of us hate to break promises so we hesitate and try is that word that isn’t disobedient or confrontational.

Observe yourself, are you saying try because you’ve never done X before; are you saying try because you don’t want to do X.  What’s the reason that you already know which would stop you completing X?

If you want to walk you talk, live a more authentic life, then quit trying.  Either decide to do something, go for it 100%, get the feedback and make any course corrections.  Alternatively decide not to do it.  Trust me, whichever you decide it’ll free up your energy.

Archetypes v Stereotypes

Had an interesting discussion this week on the difference between archetypes and stereotypes and their effect on establishing your identity.

My take is that archetypes are an energetic blue print and as such have a deep resonance or not with the recipient.  The reason we like certain films or characters is because they embody an archetype we respond to.

Stereotypes are general views held about an entity based on past experiences (not necessarily your own).  e.g. Librarian’s are quiet.  Now I know a few of these plus I used to be one many years ago, and I can say now that quiet is not a word by itself that people would use to describe me.  I can think of some who were very bookish and archetypally sage.  Which brings me back to the resonance.  If Sage isn’t an archetype you sit comfortably with, then meeting someone who is very strong (either positive or negative) in this energy isn’t going to be a rewarding or easy experience for you.