Last fall I sat in my office watching Bill Allen’s presentation to a few thousand attendees at Russell Brunson’s Funnel Hacking Live event.
I was honored and gratified to hear Bill talk about me in such glowing terms, and dazzled by how well he explained my concepts of identity, essence and the hero’s Inner Journey.
He skillfully revealed how a hero’s fears from the past can sabotage their efforts to succeed.
And he explained how our protective identities may offer emotional safety, but the comfort zone they provide can become a prison that prevents us from living fully in our essence, or achieving our greatest desires and destinies.
Bill went on to quote one of my most powerful principles regarding the Inner Journey.
In fiction and in real life, true heroes stop asking themselves, “How can I not be afraid?” and instead ask the far more empowering question, “Am I willing to be afraid?”
And that’s when my enjoyment turned to fear and despair.
Because that’s when a voice inside my head told me, “You’re not doing any of the things he’s talking about.”
It was true.
For some time I’d been retreating into a state of familiar, unchallenging isolation, avoiding anything remotely resembling risk.
You see, my wife had passed away less than two months before COVID locked everything down. And shortly after that I’d encountered some temporary health issues of my own.
So I had plenty of excuses for working less, staying in my own comfort zone of isolation and basically avoiding human interaction.
This situation, combined with my anxieties about travel and illness that grew out of wounds from a distant past, kept me firmly locked inside my own protective identity.
There is a character archetype that I refer to in film and fiction as the hero’s reflection.
This is the sidekick, best friend, mentor or significant other who helps the hero achieve his visible goal, while at the same time pushing the hero out of his protective identity and toward his essence.
The reflection repeatedly holds the hero’s feet to the fire, urging him to have the courage to pursue what he longs for or needs.
Think of Rocky’s coach Mickey, or Will Hunting’s therapist Sean, or all the characters in TED LASSO when they help each other live in their essence.
When you’re telling a business story about a successful client or customer, this is the role you will play in that hero’s life. You will enter the story after that hero is introduced, so you can help her overcome the problem she’s facing.
And because you will also help her overcome her fears and instill in her the courage she needs, your audiences will see you as the expert who can help them in the same way.
When you work with me as a client, or follow my guidance as a teacher or presenter, my primary role is as your reflection.
For both your Outer and Inner Journeys. I will guide you toward the storytelling success you desire, while gently asking the questions that will help you overcome your fears and transform from your identity to your essence.
When Bill Allen and I had our next coaching session, I told him about my reaction to his speech.
“Remember when you asked me to come to Nashville to speak to your mastermind group, and I told you January wouldn’t work for me?” I reminded him.
He did.
“Well, that wasn’t exactly true,” I confessed. “NO month would have been a good time for me, because I was simply afraid to make the trip.”
I told Bill how awful it was to realize that I’d been preaching about identity and essence and courage forever, but hadn’t been willing to risk anything myself for a very long time.
There’s a line I love in the movie HITCH, right at the beginning of Act 3. This is when the truth comes out (as it always does in a Hollywood romantic comedy), Sara breaks up with Hitch, Allegra and Albert’s relationship is destroyed, and both men are left alone and heartbroken.
When Albert arrives at Hitch’s apartment, devastated, “love doctor” Hitch tells Albert to just adjust, let go of his feelings of pain and loss, forget about the love of his life, and simply move on. In other words, return to his identity.
Albert’s response shows how he has now become Hitch’s reflection.
“So let me get this straight,” Albert says with disgust. “You’ve been peddling this stuff, you just don’t believe in your own product.”
When I told Bill Allen why I’d said no to going to Nashville, his response was less harsh, but carried the same message. “That means you should come,” he said simply.
And that’s when Bill Allen became my reflection.
And two months later, I made the trip to Nashville.
I went ahead in spite of my fear and resistance. And when I made my presentation to his group, I told them all this same story about why I'd initially said no, and how Bill had convinced me to come anyway.
That journey was a wonderful experience from beginning to end.
And because of that, when Russell Brunson called me two months later to invite me to speak to his Inner Circle, I had no hesitation at all about saying yes.
I’m ending this series of articles with this story because I felt it was only fair to share some of my own vulnerability and weakness when it comes to the Inner Journey.
I want you to realize that even when our fears aren’t horrifying or monumentally important (there was nothing life threatening or earthshaking about what happened to me), our identities can still keep us from taking risks that will help us live more fully, and move us toward our essence.
We can never live permanently in our essence in real life; we’ll always slip back into our identities when we need that kind of emotional protection.
But the more courage we show, the greater our transformation overall, and the closer we get to our destinies.
Joseph Campbell refers to the final stage of the hero’s journey as “bringing back the elixir.” Victorious heroes are able to share their rewards with the ordinary world they had left behind. The heroes’ actions result in those they touch healing their own wounds and flourishing.
In other words, when we show courage in the face of our own fears, and move from our identities to our essence, we’re not the only ones who benefit. The rewards will come to those around us – our family, friends, followers, and sometimes humanity and the entire planet.
I like to think that Bill, Russell, and those who heard me at their events benefitted in ways they wouldn’t have if I had let my identity stop me.
When you bring the Inner Journey into the stories you tell, especially when you do so in spite of your own fears, you are bringing an elixir into the world.
And with it you will change people’s lives.
- Michael
