You are the Star

Image by prayitno via Flickr

“You are the writer, producer, director and star of the movie that is your life.”

I didn’t want to hear this but the speaker was insistent. If you are not the star, then who is?

Step into the screening room

I tried to imagine a movie of my life.  “Nobody is paying to see that.” was my first thought and my second was “If I am not the star of my life, then who is?”

It is sobering when you imagine yourself as a bit player in your own life, with no particular importance and with no big responsibilities. You don’t think that anything you do or say will matter much. But it is your life after all. Whatever you think, whatever importance you think you have, it is still your life and whether you like it or not, you  are the star. If you don’t care about your big staring role, certainly no one else will.

We know that there is a movie being recorded but who has the staring role?   Who set the stage and positioned the actors? Who wrote the dialogue? Was it somebody else?

Taking Charge of your life

Somebody is already controlling your life.  Somebody is deciding where you  can afford to live.  How much time you can spend with your family.  When you can take vacation and where you can afford to go.  How is that working for you?

Seth Godin talks about the lizard brain, the primitive part of our brain that focuses on survival. This is the powerful force that stops the creative part from implementing and acting. It is the force that keeps us to the ‘safe’ path, the conventional wisdom, the approved method. It also likes following the direction of others- their map because as he says in Linchpin, “If it is someone else’s map, it’s not your fault if it doesn’t work out.”

Start today

Don’t listen to the lizard brain. Don’t accept someone else’s script for your life. Decide what you want your life to be. Be bold. Be creative. Write you own script. Live the life you want and not the life someone else picks for you.