Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept it
Did you ever wonder why the stories of Bruce Geller (one of the original writers of Mission Impossible), George Lucas and Stanley Kubrick are so captivating? Or why Bob Dylan’s music is so engaging?
Part of their inspiration and many others is from Joseph’s Campbell’s 1949 bestseller, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It was the amalgamation of all his research into mythology, religion, and archetypes from around the world. It was also the announcement of his major discovery: The Monomyth. The breakthrough idea that many of these stories share a fundamental structure. That Monomyth has famously influenced many filmmakers, musicians, writers and artists of all types.
We’ve heard the story a thousand times. The hero ventures from the known-world into the dark underbelly of the unknown. Along the way they meet helpers and mentors that help them win decisive victories over oftentimes fantastic forces. They experience a profound transformation and return home with gifts to share with others.
But what if it isn’t just a good structure for a story? If you wanted to convey important information to your descendants, how would you do it? A story seems like a pretty good modality, especially if you didn’t have advanced technology. What if all those religions, archetypes and myths from the past were trying to tell us something needed? What if it was a set of instructions? A set of instructions that gave us something very important: how to grow, change and transform.
Early in my research, I came across the Hero’s Journey and had that exact thought. Hunting discomfort during some of my most difficult times had already shown me first hand that a trip to the unknown was necessary for breakthrough results. And looking deeper, I found (maybe obviously) the Hero’s Journey played out on a very real level with explorers, innovators, visionaries and change-makers throughout history. Clearly, I’m not the first person to have this epiphany.
If there was going to be a system for creating breakthroughs – in a reliable, workable and meaningful way — it would have to be modeled on the Monomyth. It would have to be a way to descend into the unknown and come back better than ever. And if you already guessed that discomfort is the flag notifying you of the unknown (the unknown inside yourself and the unknown in the world), you guessed right.
#NoMatterWhat was born. Not as a concept. Not as a marketing idea. Not as an inspiring rally cry. As five tried-and-true steps for you to follow on your own hero’s journey that most of us just call life. A life mission that requires a hero, if you choose to accept it.
If you’re a long-time follower, you already know the 5 critical #NoMatterWhat steps inspired by Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth to create a breakthrough — an innovation, a transformation or even a significant positive change — in the best of times or even the most challenging. If you’re new, or just want a reminder, you can start getting your hands around those steps HERE. And don’t take my word for it, look at the inspiring things thousands of leaders from around the world are doing with them.
We don’t need supernatural powers or impossible feats as we write our own hero’s journey. We don’t need mythical creatures, sorcery, wizardry or some kind of super power. Our mission is to be willing to depart for the unknown and all the discomfort that lives there – on the other side, we will find gifts that we could never even predict. We’ll see results that were invisible or seemingly impossible from where we sat before. I’m willing to bet, if you accept the mission and dig in to apply it starting now, that you’ll look back — not long from now — on your life and see it as nothing short of magic.
Mission accomplished.