My sister will often ask me, at random moments, “What soundtrack is playing in your head right now?”
This may seem like a random question, but you need to know that when I was little, I wanted to be a movie star – the leading lady on stage and screen. I would often imagine at any given time that if this moment was captured by a filmmaker, what would they capture? What would it look like in slow motion? What’s really happening? Who is the villain? Am I the hero? What would the soundtrack be that was playing in the background?…
I only confessed this to my sister a few years ago, and it made her laugh, A LOT. So much so, that now it has become a common question at random moments, for her amusement, and for my reflection.
Now, as an adult, I have taken what was in my head and turned it into one of the creative tools that I use to create a vision for what I want the year’s feature film to be. It’s my ‘Movie Maker’ worksheet. I’ve been using this tool in workshops and with teams for the past 5 years, and it’s always been a fun and different way of creating and sharing a story. Movies, after all, and simply stories with pictures and music.
The mind is a powerful thing, as is our ability to imagine and dream. First you dream, then you decide, then you do! So, if you are up for a little bit of day-dreaming about your year – your 2021 – Here’s the quick run through, if you want to play along:
Sit down with a blank piece of paper and ask yourself:
- What do I want to happen this year? What am I aiming for? (Story ENDING)
- What’s likely to get in the way? (INCIDENTS/CHALLENGES)
- How will I overcome it? (TRIUMPH)
- What will I have learned at the end of the year, when I get through it? (LESSONS)
- What is this year really about? For me? (MAIN THEME)
- Where are things taking place? (SCENE SETTING)
- Who are my support people along the way? (CHARACTERS)
- How do I want to be & feel this year? (EMOTIONS)
After I’ve done this thinking about my story for the year, I turn it into a movie. I visualise it in my head. I create the movie title, I give it a genre (thriller, comedy, drama, action…) I give it a rating (PG, AO, some language may offend, may contain nudity…) and of course, I give it a soundtrack. (Taylor Swifts ‘Shake it off’ was last years….)
I then write the trailer. What happens in this movie? how does it start, what’s the main theme and plot line, when does it climax? Who is the villain? Who else features?
I then write the review – as if I was a third person watching this movie play out. What do they see when they are watching it? What might they notice or point out? What might they feel?
I then sum it up with one word – what’s the movie really about? Adversity, Fearlessness, Courage, Love.
And lastly, I reflect on the lessons that I will have learned (need to learn) from this movies journey.
It’s an exercise, one of many, that I do to get clear on what I want the year to look like, feel like, and be like. It also helps engage the creative part of my brain, which I enjoy.
So, my question to you is – if your year was a movie, what would it be? How will your story play out this year? What will you have overcome? accomplished? Learned?…
If you would like the template to use for this exercise, simply reply to this newsletter, and I’ll send you the pdf. We can also play ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ when you are done if you would like to share.
Here’s to making 2021 a box office smash!
