The Movie of Your Life
Movies are generally split into three acts: the setup, which ends with a major plot development; the main part of the story where the characters try to reach their objectives, usually encountering one more major plot development; and the conclusion, where all the loose ends are tied up before the credits roll. Beginning, middle and end.
But what kind of movie will your life be? A blockbuster? A sleeper hit? An arthouse classic? Or will it go straight to video?
Why is it a useful exercise to think of your life as a movie?
You have a large degree of control over how successful your movie is. Do you want to be one of the unremembered copycat detective stories or romantic comedies? No, I didn’t think so. So get out there and do something memorable. Everyone has the potential to be at least a cult hit.
I’m 27 so I’ve just started act two of my life. Let’s just say the critics have yawned so far at the predictability (school, university, some emotional trauma but nothing we haven’t seen before) and so what happens in the next 20 minutes/ten years is critical if I want to succeed. And that starts now.
But why, you ask, would you want to be a hit movie? Maybe you’ve no desire to be famous. But in this context being a hit doesn’t necessarily mean awards. You’re not shooting for best actor or actress, more the lifetime achievement award.
Who’s on the judging panel? You are. You can lie to yourself if you like, but at the core of your soul you’ll know if you didn’t really deserve the award you give yourself. If that hits a nerve don’t worry, your movie hasn’t finished yet so there’s still time to throw in the plot twist that will make you a classic and scoop that lifetime award. But don’t be the director who saw the chance for greatness but passed it up in favour of another formulaic action potboiler.
Did you have that great idea at the end of the first act that you would train to be an astronaut but ended up an accountant instead? That’s what I mean by passing up the blockbuster opportunities, although there’s nothing wrong with accountancy if that’s the best script for you. Your movie will be the very best of all time if you feel you achieved everything you ever wanted to in your life. Obviously that’s not possible, but it’s quite easy to do more than just be the straight to video option where you were too afraid to pursue most of your dreams.
If you say t yourself, completely honestly and with no little dissenting voice in the back of your mind, that you are completely exultant with your life as it is, then all power to you. Either that or your expectations are stuck in the basement. I’m not able to say that, and I don’t think the vast majority of other people could either. I live every day with the quiet, sometimes almost inaudible, but endlessly persistent little voice that says “is this really as far as you want to go? Is being your current occupation what you really want the most?” I want to silence that voice by going as far as I can.
It’s act two. You’ve established who the main characters are and where they’re going. Now is the time to throw in some plot development and make a classic.
This is an updated version of a post that originally appeared on my previous blog. It is one of a small selection of the best content that I am republishing for continued reader delight
photo credit: Dave Fancher
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