Be The Hero, Framing, and Think To Win
Week In Review
Hero, Victim and The Alter Ego Effect?
“Pretend the world is conspiring to make you successful.” This was stated in Donald Miller’s video where he was defining what the biggest killer of success is. Similar to movies, we all have a role to play. We can be one of four options: the HERO, the Guide, the victim, or the villain. Be the HERO or the guide…see the events of your life working together to make you better.
One way great way to do this is to visualize and act like the HERO. Grab the book The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life by Todd Herman.
Powerful Discoveries
1 - Sermons: Eleventh Hour Teaching Pastor, Jeff Nesbit delivered a powerful message from Mark 9:1-8 and the Transfiguration. There were a truck load of key points and teachings from Jeff, but one that really resonated was the topic of framing. How we view life will determine the way we live and the results we get. In summary, there was a lot going on in this passage, but verse 8 says, “they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.” In essence, they knew what and who to focus on. Something this reminded me of was a concept in psychology known as the framing effect. Framing is a feature of how are brains are designed. We will react based on the context of the circumstances around us.
As an example, you have most likely seen this image below, an optical illusion where you either see a vase in white or two profile images in black. Which one we choose to focus on is what we see. So just like in the passage, they chose to focus on Christ in order to see Christ. In the same way for all areas of our lives, we need to ask ourselves what we are focusing on, because in general, the results we achieve in life reflect where our focus is.
2 - Books: The One Thing, The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. Amazing book on choosing what to focus on, what to leverage in your life to produce what you want. There is also great concept in the book where he talks about two different mindsets. In my own words, I call this the mindset between a robot and a strategist. In the book, he wants you to imagine if someone were to ask you for firewood. The “robot” would immediately go grab an axe or whatever is in view and start swinging, simply be cause the robot is only focused on the result, but not thinking about the mechanism.
The thinking strategist, on the other hand, would stop and reflect, and realize that the firewood is the result, but asks, “what is the best way to get the result?” He/She then goes and finds a chain saw and produces twice the result in half the time.
This reminds me of an amazing scene in Captain America where a group of marching soldiers try and get a flag down from the pole. The first to get the flag wins a ride back to camp. The soldiers try, unsuccessfully, to climb the pole to get to the flag. Captain America (Steve Rogers in the scene), on the other hand, detaches himself from the situation, thinks, and then notices a lever at the bottom of the pole. He then confidently walks over, unleashes the latch, and the pole comes crashing down. He casually walks over, picks up the flag and gets the reward of a free ride back to camp!
3 - Podcasts: Lewis Howes has a great interview with retired Navy SEAL Rich Diviney. They discuss Diviney’s new book, The Attributes. Diviney takes his background as not only a SEAL, but also as being in charge of Navy SEAL training, and shows how optimal performance goes beyond just skill. It’s all about THE ATTRIBUTES.
A quick take away from the book and the podcasts: If you want a better life, then ask better questions. My thought on this is that there are two types of questions, and they are inspired from the movie industry. As stated above, imagine your life is a blockbuster action film. You have the choice to be the HERO or the victim. The type of questions you ask will define which role you play…
HERO questions lead to solutions; being in control of your life.
Victim questions lead to misery; allowing others to take control of you.
A HERO question would be, “How can I double my income in the next 6 months?”
A victim question would be, “Why is it that I don’t have any money?” or “Why does this always happen to me.”
Tweet of The Week
Below was a tweet from Ed Mylett. I also loved one of the comments associated with it, and I paraphrase:
Being weird gets you noticed. Being normal makes you invisible.
Video Of The Week
Quote of The Week
Are you a “deposit” or a “withdrawal”? Deposit people deposit energy, vision, fire, life into people and cultures. Withdrawal people suck the energy out, drain people and cultures! Ask: did I just deposit or withdrawal? ~ Jeff Nesbit, M.Div.
Be part of the culture: Link Up at Link Tree!