We all face major challenges in our life; some by choice and others due to the journey of life. About a year ago, I discovered a model for overcoming fear and taking on major challenges called "The Hero's Journey." I immediately connected with the concept, since most of my past challenges generally followed the steps laid out in the Hero's Journey. At the start of pursuing an inconceivable goal, like winning a World Championship, my confidence of success is low. The Hero's Journey has helped me understand the expected ups and downs on the road to the final victory and realize it starts with the first step.
Note: Most of what follows below in describing "The Hero's Journey" is written by Steven Barnes, an award winning author who has an extensive background in the martial arts. My Journey to the Worlds followed a surprisingly similar process.
Excerpts from: Steven Barnes - A Hero's Journey. Based on Joseph Campbell's Monomyth
The Heros Journey
A Hero is a person who deals with their fear. Who does not let their fear stop them from accomplishing something that is vital to their lives or dreams or honor. Now let me make something clear: a Hero is not a person who does not FEEL fear. Because if you don’t feel fear, there’s nothing heroic to overcome, now, is there? A Hero is a person who continues on despite their fear. That is what makes them Heroic in the first place.
The Hero’s Journey, extracted from thousands of years of world mythology, has the advantage of actually mimicking the path of life itself. The "three act structure" does not. After all…life isn’t divided into three, or five, or eight acts. Such divisions can be useful tools, but they should never be mistaken for some kind of "truth" about existence. In comparison, note this interpretation (there are others) of the steps of the Hero’s Journey, and to explain them, we’ll look at the first Star Wars movie, "Episode IV, A New Hope" and compare Eric's Journey to the WorldsTen Step Hero's Journey
1) Hero Confronted With A Challenge. "Come with me, Luke, learn the ways of the Force." This is pretty clear, right? There has to be a challenge, or a beckoning, or the character won’t begin to change—and all great writing is about change.
2) Hero Initially rejects the challenge. Luke says, "I promised Uncle Owen I’d work on the moisture evaporators." A real challenge, one that can provoke real change, will be frightening and exciting. A character will usually have some reservations.
Eric's initial rejection: "I am focusing on the Pan competition in April and can't be ready for the Worlds in early October." With multiple losses at local and regional tournaments my confidence had not risen. This was the first discussion with my inner voice and Professor Brandon McDaniel.
Lesson: When a life situation or challenge makes you uncomfortable, your first reaction will be to stay safe - away from the Discomfort Zone. However, that is the "signal" that you are facing an opportunity to grow. “Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown.” - Author unknown3) Hero accepts the challenge. Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed, freeing him from his oath. If your character doesn’t accept the challenge, there is no story—unless the story is about the consequences of not accepting responsibility.
Eric accepts challenge: After a week of contemplation, the truth emerged that even through losing, there would be more to gain in doing my best to prepare and compete at the Worlds. When I learned that teammates Josh Bagalay and my professor Brandon McDaniel were both going to the Worlds (see step 5 Gaining Allies) then I accepted the new challenge.
4) The Road of trials. Traveling to the desert town and cantina, getting on Han Solo’s spaceship, traveling to other planets, etc. This is the section where locations and sequence interact. The character travels, learns, commits actions that force interaction with the environment, and the environment responds positively or negatively, with greater and greater stakes as the story proceeds.Eric's Trials:
- Five BJJ tournaments in 2 countries and 3 states in the run up to the Worlds
- Weekly private lessons to eliminate weaknesses identified through competition
- Developing a "game plan" for every position, while identifying triggers, shutdowns, and routes for each position
- Normal tweaks and injuries to work around and heal
- Drilling with my teammates Jeff G and Miguel B
- Going live in open rolling and finding out what works and doesn't work
- Sharing the trials and gaining insight from my son Chris
5) Gaining Allies and Powers. Luke meets Han Solo, and Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan, and Princess Leia. He learns of the Force, and the use of Light Sabers, and how to fly and fight and rescue princesses. If your character doesn’t have to grow in order to resolve the problem, you may have chosen the wrong problem or character!
Eric's Allies and Powers: Through working towards the Pan challenge, my professor and teammates were strong allies. Physical health was enhanced by a team of massage therapist and chiropractor. My son Chris is a constant companion in the BJJ life lessons. Acquiring "powers" came in the form of "mental game plan" expertise provided by Professor Brandon and Josh B.6) Initial Confrontation with Evil, and defeat. Obi-Wan’s death. Or possibly the disastrous attack on the Death Star. One is private and emotional, the other spectacular and physical.
7) Dark Night of the Soul. The moment of greatest weakness. Luke begins to believe he cannot win, and everything he loves will die.
Eric's dark 15 minutes: This last tournament was supposed to be the validation that I "was ready." Now my shoulder and elbow are injured from a match I was supposed to win. Where do I go from here with the Worlds 3 weeks away?
Eric's dark 15 minutes: This last tournament was supposed to be the validation that I "was ready." Now my shoulder and elbow are injured from a match I was supposed to win. Where do I go from here with the Worlds 3 weeks away?
8) Leap of Faith. "Trust your Feelings, Luke." The leap of Faith is always faith in one of three things: faith in self, faith in your companions, or faith in a higher power. In "Star Wars" it is all three! This may be the only time in the history of cinema that this was true, and helps to explain why George Lucas is a billionaire.
Eric's Leap of Faith: Professor Brandon immediately noted how far I had come in training and competition to have a dominant showing. A little mistake or loss of focus can still result in a loss. The team support and my faith in self quickly drove the conclusion to get "back in the game" as soon as possible. However, I didn't really know how bad my injury was. My natural instinct was to grab some ice and wait a few days to see how my body would react.
"Aha Moment" - right now is the time to build resilience to failure - resist the urge to quit - I was called for the first open class match and competed well while adjusting my game to protect my arm and shoulder. I lost the match 6 to 7, but fought hard to the finish. This loss was a critical build block on the path to toughness.
Lesson: Resilience before Toughness: The Worlds would be some of the toughest matches ever. I have seen my toughest teammates get injured and go back in and win. My master physical and mental coach Scott Sonnon has helped me to work towards toughness by "breaking the secret code."The following is an excerpt about Resilience before Toughness from Scott Sonnon's revolutionary Primal Stress program for optimum performance in life and sport.
Start Scott Sonnon Quote:
In decades of fighting, in world championships across five different sports, I [Scott Sonnon] discovered that before you can resist failure, you must first experience failure and learn how to recover from it. I still see coaches who will only allow their athletes to compete against opponents they’re certain to defeat; and when they confront a worthy challenge, they are little tougher than when they began, becoming mentally and emotionally crushed under the pressure, unable to recover from their failures.
Before you can prevent excessive stress, you must first be able to recover from it. Let’s think of Resilience as your ability to recover from excessive stress (which my Russian teachers called your “Threshold of Performance”). You must become resilient before you can become tough. Let’s think of Toughness as your ability to resist excessive stress (which my Russian teachers called your “Threshold of Pain”).
If you want to become tough enough to not be fazed by the big stuff (which we can think of as 'resistance to excessive stress'), then we must first develop the tools for when we exceed our threshold of adaptable stress levels (which we can think of as "resilience.") You cannot become tough until you first become resilient.
End Scott Sonnon Quote
9) Confront Evil—victorious. The Death Star blows up.
Eric's Victory: October 7, 2012 -IBJJF World Championship Gold Medal - Blue Belt, Featherweight, Senior 5
Eric's Victory: October 7, 2012 -IBJJF World Championship Gold Medal - Blue Belt, Featherweight, Senior 5
10) Student Becomes the Teacher. Luke is presented with medals, which establish him as a role model.
Eric's as teacher: I offer this experience and personal thoughts to provide my teammates and son with one perspective on setting and achieving "bucket list" goals that may seem beyond their reach.
Summary
The above ten steps are not some cookie-cutter pattern. They are the combined world wisdom about the path of life itself, the process we go through in achieving any worthwhile goal. There will be fear. There will be defeat. We will need to gain new skills and friends and partners. We must be clear on our acceptance of goals and responsibility. We must have faith. And ultimately, if we have struggled, and learned, and sacrificed, and moved through our fear…we learn and grow and succeed. And then we teach others.
This is the pattern of life, and when you have an "inconceivable challenge" that is too scary to take that first step, then the Hero's Journey may be the road map to the sweet victory of success.
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| Team Caique Allies and Teammates |
The above ten steps are not some cookie-cutter pattern. They are the combined world wisdom about the path of life itself, the process we go through in achieving any worthwhile goal. There will be fear. There will be defeat. We will need to gain new skills and friends and partners. We must be clear on our acceptance of goals and responsibility. We must have faith. And ultimately, if we have struggled, and learned, and sacrificed, and moved through our fear…we learn and grow and succeed. And then we teach others.
This is the pattern of life, and when you have an "inconceivable challenge" that is too scary to take that first step, then the Hero's Journey may be the road map to the sweet victory of success.
