written by Angie Morgan

Imagine your life’s a movie – you’ve got a set, a cast of characters, a wardrobe fit for the work you do.

You’ve also got a narrator – an omniscient point of view who helps fill in the details of the story, like your motivations, your hidden interests, and what’s about to happen next in your life.

The problem you can encounter with your life movie, though, is sometimes you don’t love it. The tone can be off, there can be little progress with the plot, and at times it’s more of a drama than what you hoped it’d be. 

You can think you’re stuck and that with each new day you must play out the character that doesn’t feel like it’s serving you.

Here’s the deal – you’ve got more power in the scenario than you think. You can fire your narrator.

You control your life’s narration. You own that. You get to determine how you experience your days and you get to fill in the blanks about your motivations, hidden interests, and what’s about to happen next in your life. And if you don’t like something, you can make a conscious effort to tell your story differently.

Here are a few examples:

  • If you wake up feeling like you have to go to work, switch your perspective – you have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others or you have the chance to contribute to the teams you are a part of.
  • If you’re frustrated by a colleague, rather than submit to thinking negatively about them you can choose to be more empathetic and understanding, which will change the dynamic of the relationship.
  • If you’ve been feeling a little down lately, spend some time thinking of what different narrators in your life would sound like – what would a narrator with a more positive tone sound like? Or one who acknowledges struggles, yet also shares solutions?

My challenge to you is that if this week you experience frustration or challenge, pause and seek to see the scenario from a different perspective. Ask yourself, “Are there other ways that I can look at this situation? Ones that help me navigate through it more efficiently, ones that help me find a higher road than what my instincts are calling me to do?” 

Small changes can lead to big things. Which minor adjustments make the most sense to you?

Angie Morgan is the co-founder of Lead Star and the New York Times best-selling authors of SPARK: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success, Leading from the Front, and the soon to be published Bet on You. Sign up for Lead Star’s free, weekly newsletter to get timely leadership tips delivered directly to your inbox each Monday.