‘Follow your own star!’ – Dante Aligheri
Have you ever dreamt of being up on the big screen, your name in lights, turning up at a premiere or awards show with besotted fans screaming your name? Of hearing the presenter say ‘and the Oscar goes to…’?
And naturally of working out who you would thank (and who you wouldn’t for that matter), and what you would be wearing, and so on and so on… and who would play you in a mini-series about you.
Stop, and think for a minute.
When it comes down to it, you already ARE starring in your own movie. Every time you make a major decision, every time you meet a major challenge head on – every time you make a move that is of major consequence to your business life – which then reflects onto every other area of your life – then you are in the lead role. You are playing the part every actor dreams of – the part of ‘ME’.
The thing is however, are you actually in the movie you imagined would be your own when you first started out in business? When you did your last 5, or 3, or even 1 year plan, is this the role you imagined you would be playing? Because life is not a dress rehearsal, as the wonderful Helen Treloar would say. Your story is rolling across the screen in all its 3D glory at a rapid pace and if you imagined you would be in an action thriller, and are stuck in an extremely boring unromantic comedy – then you need to change the genre yourself. Nobody else can do it for you. You are your own director, producer, scriptwriter and cameraman. You are quite often catering, wardrobe hair and makeup as well. And you know what they say about working with animals and children…
If you are ready to stand in your own spotlight and be a star, then get out your Oscar-worthy outfit in terms of your brain and abilities and work out what movie is YOUR movie. And make sure you respect that what works for you, doesn’t necessarily work for everyone else.
Just because you are Scarlett O’Hara, able to flounce into town dressed in a pair of curtains, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for the Melanie Wilkes’ of this world; gentle, steadfast and brave in a quiet way. They have their own movies too, and just because their lights don’t shine as brightly, just like Scarlett, imagine what your life would be like without them.
Change the game. Get ready to shout ‘lights, camera, action’ to yourself – and switch on your best red carpet smile.
After all – you are a star. We all are.
