In movies and books there is a concept called the suspension of disbelief. It basically means that when you walk into the theater, you are willing to believe things that would normally be ridiculous. Some of the most memorable movies have been set in completely unbelievable circumstances by everyday standards. A teenager gets super powers from a radioactive spider. There is a school to teach wizards and witches with a very special boy who was orphaned. A farm boy from another planet becomes the hero of a revolution while redeeming his father who was the second most evil man in the universe. These are all great examples of the suspension of disbelief.
The problem that many of us face is that we know our own back-story. The back-story is the hero’s life before the movie or book started. Sometimes we never discover their back-story. The audience is always dropped into the hero’s life right before they are about to be thrust into their unbelievable adventure. Imagine if you had to watch Harry Potter’s life from the moment he was dropped on the doorstep until his fateful birthday. You would walk out of the theater before he turned three. The back-story is not the point. The moment that the hero decides to take on the adventure is the point.
So what about you? One of the reasons that we don’t do the things that we’ve dreamed of doing is that we have an overwhelming back-story. We have a lifetime of knowing what we can and cannot do. Our ability to make a huge leap from where we are to where we want to be is unbelievable. What if you suspended that disbelief?
Imagine that in the future there was a movie made about you because in the coming years you did amazing things. What if today was the day that the audience was dropped into your life? You look just like an ordinary person. However you decide to take yourself into a new direction. This does not need to be a huge shift. There are no radioactive spiders. However there is a half an hour per day. For half an hour each day, suspend your disbelief. Think, talk and act like your dream self would. Do this exercise and see how you feel. Forget your back-story. Only focus on the future of what you want to be. As it becomes more comfortable, let it spread like a virus. Notice that feeling popping up in times when you did not expect it. Eventually it can take over all twenty four hours. When you’ve taken your dreams and made them your life, then you can tell people your back-story.
As we are moving past the time when most people have given up on their New Year’s Resolutions, I offer this subtle reminder. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED. It is sometimes a difficult thing to swallow. Goals and resolutions are pretty and shiny when we create them. Everything will go great! You’ll be able to maintain this level of excitement until you get to the end! The problem is that we usually forget or don’t know the following.
In college I was a Spanish major and there was a girl in several of my classes who was a Spanish minor. She was very attractive but her Spanish skills were lacking. One day she told me that she didn’t even like speaking Spanish that she was just taking the classes to get the minor. This prompted my question, “why get the minor?” “Because it will look good on my resume.” At this point, I was flabbergasted. “Isn’t the company that is impressed by that going to expect that you’ll be able to use the language?” This thought had never occurred to her.
Huryk Unlimited 