A New Narrative

I just finished watching the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.  It won some awards.  I think Brad Pitt won an award.  I thought it sucked.

Well it didn’t SUCK, but it was just a weird film.  Growing up in Southern California during the time period depicted, I remember some of the TV commercials and billboards.  That brought back some memories.  I won’t share the plot, but will summarize it this way:

It gave a new narrative to an actual, tragic event.  You can watch the movie to see for which event for yourself.

But the new narrative piece is what has me thinking about that movie today as I return it to the RedBox kiosk.

A new narrative to an actual tragic event. 

And for that reason, I think we can take some ideas from the film.

Think about something in your professional life that didn’t go well.  Maybe you did a presentation that bombed.  You ran with one of your ideas and they didn’t succeed.  You approached your boss with a suggestion and the boss ignored it.  Maybe you had to correct an employee and that meeting didn’t end well for you.  

These are narratives.  Negative narratives.  If you keep reflecting on them, you’ll eventually get to a place where you won’t ever try again.  Nothing sticks with you like the pain of failure.  That pain will prevent you from suggesting, trying, or implementing anything beyond what you’ve ever done before.

I know this from personal experience.  I’m sure you can relate.

But what if we tucked away the pain of that defeat and approached the challenge from a different angle?  What if we imagined a better, happier ending and let that drive us?  There’s a 50/50 chance that might work.  Which is better than the 100% chance it won’t work if you never try.

So this week, think about what negative narratives you’re carrying around.  Nobody has the right to keep you stuck there.  What will you do NOW to move past what happened THEN?  I’ll be trying it out.  Will you join me?