Nothing looks better than blinking and taking a breath just as the camera starts to roll… But this is important, and if I have to look like I ate too many of Uncle George’s magic brownies, it’s worth it to share this valuable life lesson. So here we go…
What would you do if you had no job, no friends, you were lost in a foreign country where you didn’t know the language, and someone just stole your life savings?
This is what happened to Santiago, the main character in the book The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. There’s a great lesson here.
Santiago, realized that he could either be a victim who just got robbed and betrayed, or he could be a hero on adventure, in search of a great treasure.
The minute he chose to think of himself as an adventurer, he immediately came up with a solution that stopped him from starving or freezing to death. In less than a day he had food, shelter, a job, and a new friend.
From there, his adventure unfolded as he grew in wisdom, courage, reputation, and wealth.
You don’t need to lose everything in order to put yourself on the same growth trajectory as Santiago. All you have to do is think about yourself as a hero on an adventure.
Your mindset, attitude, and self image have a miraculous ability to unlock your skills and talents, raise your energy levels, and attract amazing good luck.
I know all this from personal experience. One a bike trip through Italy, I took a wrong turn and got lost in the Apennine Mountains. I had to battle a heavy wind that knocked me over, a storm drenched all my clothes, and late that afternoon I realized I had lost my phone.
Just after sunset, I stumbled into the tiny village of Aquilonia. A group of burly dudes hanging outside a bar looked me over. When they asked me what I was doing, I told them I wanted to learn about Aquilonia but first I needed a place to pitch a tent.
One of them told me I had coraggio, and I stayed in Aquilonia for two days. The locals honored me with music, jokes, an archaeological tour, food, and drink. It was one of the most memorable parts of the trip.
For years I’ve believed in the Santiago principle, that your mindset goes a long way towards resolving whatever situation you’re facing. More recently I’ve followed the research that seems to back this up.
Neuroscience and psychology are filled with studies in which ordinary people achieve extraordinary success, healing, learning, and growth almost immediately after a sincere change in their attitude.
It’s also known that if you do things that scare you a little bit, eventually you will overcome these fears. Over time, this simple practice can boost your self-esteem and make you more resilient.
So what if you thought about yourself as a hero on an adventure, and constantly chased after small quests? (By quests, I mean goals that make you slightly uncomfortable but are small enough to achieve in a few days or weeks.)
If you give yourself just one meaningful quest a month, imagine where you’ll be this time next year!
Sometimes I like to imagine certain parts of my life as a video game. Then the challenges I face are puzzles to solve, monsters to defeat, or quests to complete.
Gamifying parts of your life is a variation of thinking of yourself as a hero on an adventure. It’s a great way to overcome fear, reach your goals faster, bring out talents you may not have known you had, and develop the skills you need to achieve anything you want.
Try it out, and the results will speak for themselves. You are a hero on an adventure.
