Who Wrote the Screenplay for Your Life?

Most of us live scripted lives, whether we know it or not.

What makes us tick — or ticked? Why do we do what we do? Why do some things just roll off our back, while other things crank us up? What and where is that blasting cap inside that seems to so easily ignite fear or courage, hope or despair, anger or joy?

It’s a script. I believe every one of us has a script we are playing out in our lives.

Yes, assessment tools of all sorts (Strength Finder, MBTI, DiSC, et al) are important data points and the early window into our tendencies and motivations. However, I find that the more durable growth and change comes when we are willing to dive more deeply and get to our unique “script” — those beliefs and experiences that truly drive us. It is “the story of our lives.” (Hmm, you even hear people use that expression, often in a self-defeating way, right?) Some of us are conscious of the script, others not. For some, we wrote that script ourselves; for others (and often sadly) it was written by someone else — abusive parent, high school bully, estranged lover, or betraying friend or business partner.

Why does it matter to get to your script? Because we are either living out that script or running away from it. We can layer all kinds of practiced behaviors on our sense of self, and in doing so we can either be in denial of a bad script still ticking away, or lose sight of our true self. Still, when the pressure’s on, the script will start calling the shots. It’s a good idea to know what it is if we ever expect to be master of it.

The script gets to the heart of who you are. Anyone who knows me well or has worked with me knows that I am passionate about being honest about our own story, being aware of how it plays out and — ultimately — taking ownership of our lives.

Just like a good movie, we want it to turn out well.

It starts with a good script.