16 Sep 2010, Posted by Cris Buckley in Strategy, 1 Comment. Tagged change, creativity, vision, voice

Are You Living in the Wrong Story??

Photo by jurvetson

Imagine you’re Sleeping Beauty and you’re awaiting the magical kiss of Prince Charming to awaken you from your sleep. You sense someone leaning over you and—it’s the Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood! You’re in the wrong story and the ending is not at all what you want or hoped!

Do you know that the life you’re living right now was created by the story you’ve told yourself over and over in previous years? And that most of what we tell ourselves—our self-talk—is subconscious?? Meaning we aren’t even aware of it??

Jorge Barba—in his post “Innovations Begin When the System Gets Stuck” –– talked about the mental dynamics of “stuckness” for organizations. One of the key contributors to “stuckness” was “living in a story that leads you to inaction”.

Wrong story—wrong results!! Do you want your life or organization to have a better ending? Then tell yourself a different story!!!!

Rewriting your own story line is a powerful concept that has helped me tremendously—and it’s thrilling to see the transformation in my clients, too—when they grab hold of the idea. It unleashes hope & creativity & gets them unstuck.

What can you put in your new story?

• Well, usually we go on a little treasure hunt first and uncover positive attributes, gifts, strengths, talents, passions, etc. All of these can go in the story—especially in an “I am….” form. For example, “I am resourceful, strategic, considerate of others, etc.”
• Positive experiences can go in the story as well as learnings and positive interpretations of negative experiences.
• What you really desire can go in the story in a present tense form. For example, “I am the founder of a multi-million dollar training company. I live in a condo by the ocean, etc.”
• You put in your story your vision of what you really want to be manifest in your life or organization.

And then you speak it out loud to yourself daily—-because your own voice in your own ears is the only thing powerful enough to write over the old scripts playing in your head.

Don’t give voice to the old story line—-you know, the inner voice that says you’re not good enough, it will never work, remember this or that from your personal history, etc. You don’t want to live in that story anymore!!

First you write your story—then you speak it! Are you ready for the challenge? Anybody really going to do it??

I hope so! Don’t get caught living in the wrong story!

Related posts:

1. I Want To Hear Your Voice!