Create Your Own Extraordinary Circumstances

Since I was four years old, I have been consuming stories that were mind blowingly amazing. I’m talking Dr. Suess, straight through J.R.R. Tolkein and Star Wars.

The one thing constant through all of these amazing stories, is that an ordinary individual found themselves on a rather extraordinary path.

Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings happened to be summoned by a wizard to undertake a dangerous quest to destroy a magical ring. He was just a hobbit.

Luke Skywalker was unknowningly the son of the most terrifying force in the galaxy, destined to assume his amazing powers within the Force and bring balance to everything. He was just a farmer.

Michael Valentine Smith was raised by an alien civilization and taught to grok instead of think. He was just a man.

I’ve been waiting for years, and yet it seems as though “extraordinary circumstances” related to heritage, intergalactic wars, and magical rings just aren’t in my cards.

What’s a man to do?

The Power of Creation

I can create my own extraordinary circumstances. My life is my story.

Lucky for me, I am the author (as far as I know), as well as the protagonist. That gives me an insane amount of power and input over my story.

Everyone has this opportunity and power over their own lives.  Assuming the responsibilities of author and protagonist is a step that most people are not willing to take. The level of ownership and responsibility required can be terrifying. It means that you can no longer blame others for the circumstances that you find yourself in.

The problem I see in all of the incredible stories that are out there, that I am inspired by, is that the protagonists do not really have the opportunity to create their own reality. Sure they rock already, but if they could have chosen it for themselves, would they?

I have no idea. But I do know that given the choice of creating my own circumstances or being inadvertently swept into an epic series of events, I would choose to create my own.

Choose Your Own Ending

Do you remember Goosebumps? I adored them as a kid – specifically he ones that let you choose your own ending. It was unfathomably awesome that you were able to choose which ending you would receive based on the choices you made. Now that I look back at it, it seems eerily like real life.

If you want to create epic, extraordinary circumstances for yourself, you have to begin making choices that will lead you to those consequences.

How do you create your own extraordinary circumstances?  How do you choose your own ending?

We choose our own endings by what we do every single day.  While reviewing your commitments daily might not seem like a high impact activity, when it becomes a habit, you are rewriting the entire plot.

Our habits are the roads that we will walk to our extraordinary circumstances.  When we create effective and extraordinary habits, we move closer to the ending that we desire.

Picture Perfect Endings

The benefit that every single one of these fictional characters had was that their author’s knew exactly where they were going.   It did not matter if they were riding space ships across galaxies or ponies across fields – they had a destination that had been envisioned with passion and detail.

As authors and protagonists, we must create our own destinations with passion and detail.

The passion may come from the burning questions that inspire our lives or they may come from sources unknown. This passion will be food and fuel for the journey.

The detail that we provide our vision will be the compass and map that we travel buy. If we fail to create a vision with enough detail, we will find ourselves utterly lost as we scramble from safe haven to safe haven.

When we create a map that has overwhelming amount of detail, we are able to know what choices we need to make, even before we need to make them. The actions that we must undertake will be clear, predictable and understandable.

In the near certainty that you will encounter a challenge that will force you off your path. Wouldn’t this cause more stress than benefit?  Only if you let it.  When you have a crystal clear vision of your own extraordinary ending, you will be able to look at an obstacle and envision a new path to your destination.

There are an infinite number of ways to get from Point A to Point B, taking you through many different obstacles and opportunities. If you let your fear of failure get the best of you, you are cutting yourself off from any likelihood you have to succeed.

What happens in your story?

Photo by ellenm1