This week I had one of those lengthy, deep, philosophical conversations with a client who was stuck in the circumstances of her career. We were grappling with the fact that even though she’s extremely talented and worthy of huge success, and even though she’s followed the “new rules” of the industry, along with the preachings of the most popular bloggers and tech gurus, her showbiz career continues to creep along at a turtle’s’ pace. And after hearing her “story” over and over, and after much poking, prodding, cajoling, explaining, and arm wrestling, she finally came to this realization—which for her was a profound insight:
Your crazy, genius, independent, entrepreneurial, creative career is a metaphor of the story you tell yourself. Not the story you tell others, rather the story that you keep hidden and only tell your self. And it’s the story you tell your self that dictates the results you produce and the degree of success you achieve. Change your story and the choices and decisions you make will change. Once that happens, your actions will change. Once that happens, the results you produce will change. Not magically, but intelligently. They have to.