This article originally appeared in The Simplifier #32.

You Run The Show

By Shawn Tuttle

Imagine you are on a game show. The bright set lights are blinding you, the audience sounds like 300 of your closest friends and family wildly cheering you on, the bright game show colors are flashing and changing.

You get to choose your prize! You go for what’s behind:
-door #1, the car of your choice + fuel for a year, or
-door #2, an all-expenses-paid, year-long sabbatical anywhere in the world, or
-door #3, a year’s worth of full-service, extremely-talented support staff for the endeavor of your choice.

Being three very different possibilities, one of them probably jumped out at you and said, “Pick me!” Add your own flavor to that one and get ready to welcome your host for today’s show… Mahatma Gandhi! He enters stage right, takes the microphone and says:

“Ehem, testing, testing, is this on? Ok then. Welcome, everyone! Our theme for today is:
Action expresses priorities.

“Here’s your complimentary flashlight. Ready, set, go!”

Now, when you were invited to come on the game show, they didn’t tell you there was a little obstacle course to complete in order to reach each of the doors. Pshaw, what’s a little obstacle course? Suddenly, trap doors all over the stage pop open and hurdles, ladders, rolling logs, and small pools of gooey stuff suddenly appear where before there was open stage. And these props are dynamic! The audience can come on stage and move them right in front of you! (Maybe they aren’t 300 of your closest friends and family after all!) They are shrieking and yelling from all directions. They can misguide you toward a course going in another direction. They can set time limits that you must follow. They can rearrange the courses so you don’t know if it is leading to your desired door or not. They can throw someone else’s prize on the middle of your stage. A couple of them come close and try to lure you into conversation, or distract you with little mind games. Your door of choice is starting to look more like Tantalus’ evasive fruit, as he sat in the pool just out of arms reach of the branches overhead.

Your actions are still moving towards one of the doors…well, kind of. Your speed definitely isn’t expressing the strength of your desire for what’s behind the door of your choice. In fact, things are starting to look and feel a little muddy. Every once in a while you are so deep in the obstacle course, you don’t know where the door is. You find yourself forgetting which door to go for first and find yourself zigzagging between the courses. The lights go dim and you don’t remember where you put the flashlight. Hey! You see that one course has been totally cleared, but you’re in the middle of another, and you can’t reach the open space until it’s too late.

None of the doors, let alone your chosen door, seem any closer than when you started. How does that feel?! Argh!

Have you had enough? Do you want to jump up and scream, “Stop! This is ridiculous! Who made up these rules, anyways? Who says this game has to be this difficult? I want to win!”

A-ha. Bingo. You just bumped into the other rule the game show people didn’t tell you about, which is:

You have more control over the obstacle course than your audience.

Once you realize this, you do stop. A calm settles through your limbs and deep into your gut. Your mind, as if it had been a camera that was out of focus, regains its clarity. Your eyes brighten, a feeling of power and vibrancy connects your head and heart and flows all the way to your fingers and toes. You grow 6 inches taller, your chest puffs out, and your feet plant firmly on the ground.

You slowly raise your arms up and over your head; a mighty roar slowly gathers force deep in your diaphragm. Finally your head tips back and the roar explodes out of you, silencing the audience and disintegrating the obstacle course that just moments ago kept you from your prize. Your head comes back to level, your eyes locking on the chosen door. With solid stride you move across the stage, seemingly oblivious to the shrieks and attempts to distract you that pick up as soon as you move forward. Your arm stretches out in front of you, hand open; it takes only a moment to confidently wrap your fingers around the doorknob and push the door open.

Success.

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify