Learn to Trace Your Hero's Journey and Share Life Lessons

What's in a personal story? Travels and takeaways? Jokes and funny anecdotes?  

The story of your life is not about your summer vacation or even the bio you’ve written for work.  It is the value that comes from your experience and the essence of what your life has taught you.

Everyone has something important to say and everyone has a story that is  powerful and unique. Despite moments of doubt, you must believe there is power in your story.  Knowing it helps keep you from trying to convince anyone of who you are.

The Hero's Journey

Beloved author and mythologist Joseph Campbell taught us that the Hero’s Journey is an ancient story that is embedded in the human experience. It has been present across every culture since the beginning of time. The Hero is you, me and everyone in our human experience.

Our Hero’s Journey goes something like this:

The Hero is living in the status quo until something happens to shake things up. This can range from the loss of a client or job to the loss of someone or something precious. It can also be a call to action, such as an aching unrest that unfolds over time.

At first you resist change, but finally the journey begins as you head into the unknown where things are no longer “steady as she goes.” Along the way you find helpful friends and mentors. You embrace the advice and gain confidence.

In a crucial moment of the journey, you face the hard decision—represented by the dragon of fear. There are a many forms of fear, such as the discomfort of scrapping the status quo—leaving a job, changing careers, starting a business, alienating people who want you to stay the same, and the worry of startling people with your true desires.

When you succeed, you gain a greater understanding of life and the satisfaction of overcoming the obstacle. If you fall short, the status quo is always lurking.

One of My Journeys

My first love was broadcasting. For more than a decade I thought my career would always be about radio and television. 

I had set my sights on being the general manager of big property one day. But when the industry began to shift toward consolidation I became restless and mulled over the idea of leaving to do something much different.

A mishandled, sloppy sale of my radio station tossed me way out of my comfort zone; and then one day a new general manager named Chuck told me I needed to forget the way things had been. Things would be different now, he told me, starting with my job description. I left his office and walked down the hall to my office, sat down and banged out my resignation. It was almost involuntary. After 12 years in commercial broadcasting, I was out the door.

I went to work for the local NPR affiliate in town. I became part of a small team that ran a popular news and jazz station that collectively were my teacher and mentor into a new life.

All the angst and anger over the sale of my station subsided. My life became enriched with friends. I began to write again. For a few years I did independent PR and worked as a consultant for a handful of clients I knew through my background in broadcasting. I was good but not great at it. I began to feel as though I was settling and ached for my true place.

Through a series of chance events, I did part-time work coaching people to speak publicly. I began to notice that something was missing in the way that business presentation skills were being taught. Storytelling, vulnerability and authenticity were missing.

The stretch of road between realizing my purpose and creating a real business was fraught with dragons: financial recessions, naysayers and wrong partners who were on their own journey. But one morning I was standing at the coffee pot in my studio, which is located in a restored factory building, and I had to sit down. The light was pouring in. I realized I had “come home” from the adventure of finding my true work, helping others find their voice.

Reflecting on the Hero's Journey can help you make sense of what you're learning. Sharing that learning with others to empower them is the essence of generosity and leadership.

What are you learning on your Hero’s Journey?