 Very often when we see someone succeed in a big way in life, we assume that they're different from us, right? It could be the super successful author or the YouTuber or the quote influencer or the athlete or the entrepreneur. And we assume that they're cut from a different cloth and even use the words like genius. But in reality, what really makes people succeed? And what does it really take to become that unusually successful person? In this video, I thought I would share some unique thoughts on that. What's up, you guys? Alex Hein here. Now, before we jump in, I've put together a free goal setting worksheet for you right below this video to help you plan out how to have the best year ever of your life. So if you want, you can check it out right below this video. So Joseph Campbell was a mythologist and, you know, he had this famous story of going into the woods into this cabin and reading books for years, 12, 14, 15 hours a day. And when he went into the woods and went into this cabin, supposedly, he came out with this theory, which is the hero's journey. So the hero's journey is something that had even inspired George Lucas creating Star Wars. And what it's based on is hundreds or thousands of these traditional folklore tales, and observing these various heroes in, you know, various parts of the world and various parts of folklore and mythology throughout the world. And he noticed that there were certain commonalities between these stories that he then ended up calling the hero with 1000 faces, or the hero's journey. Now, the hero's journey is comprised of several of these parts. And the reason I bring this up is because what you may have forgotten is that all of us and you are in the middle of your hero's journey. And when you forget that you are the hero of your storybook, you are the chosen one. When you forget that you act a certain way. And when you remember that, you also act a certain way. So in the hero's journey, there's a few different parts, the first being the call, right? The person is called to do something. And I like to think of this in terms of Paolo Quello, the author of The Alchemist, because he said that when he was young, his parents had committed him to a mental institution because he was this kind of artist. And they didn't understand this, you know, this starving creative, right? The starving artist thing was not appealing to them as an educated family. And so not only did he refuse his own call to be a creative, well, they committed him to a mental institution. There is the call to adventure, right? That is one piece of the story. But the other part is the refusal of the call, which is the part in your story where there's something deep down you know you want to do that you feel called to do. And you're afraid to do it, or for some reason are not doing it. It could be like Paolo Quello, the social pressure to not become the kind of person you really want because am I going to make it financially? Is this going to work out for me? Is my culture going to accept me? But the refusal of the call is that you have some kind of dream or something that speaks to you, and you are not doing it for a variety of reasons. There is this purpose out there for you that you feel, but you are not going after it. That is the refusal of the call. The third part is the road of trials. Now, this is basically great. You know, I decided I'm going to become a writer or I decided I'm going to move to Spain and do my thing, or I'm going to be a movie director or entrepreneur or a doctor. And now you suddenly begin the road of difficulty, which is as the creative, you know, Paolo Quello wrote the alchemist, and it was not some hit cult success at first. In fact, he only sold two copies he said in six months. The first person that bought the first copy that ended up buying another copy some months later. So when you see that Paolo Quello's book, the alchemist was one of the bestselling books ever if you in all of human history behind the Bible, it did not get off to a quick start and it did not get off to a point where it was clear this was going to be some dramatic success. So the road of trials is when you start going after that dream and you think it's all going to work out and it doesn't, and you're not sure why. It's when you begin to lose weight and you're a hundred pounds overweight and you realize, wow, this is a lot harder than I thought, but that's expected. And then finally, the last part of this hero's journey is called the return and the master of two worlds. So the return of this journey here is the point at which you've quote succeeded, at least for the time being. My point here though is that you are the hero in the hero's journey. Now one of the ways this can help you in your life is viewing each phase of your life as a different stage of that hero's journey or as separate kind of missions that you have if you're feeling lost. You know I had this one friend and it's very similar to me. She's lived all over the world, many different countries, speaks different languages and is very adventurous. And she's more excited by the thrill of a new place than she is staying in one place because that's what makes her unhappy. Stagnation and this kind of the same. So she's a thrill seeker, right? An adrenaline junkie. And she said to me, you know, we were speaking about how to stay happy when you're always changing friends and always changing jobs and always changing your life. And I asked her, how do you stay happy with starting over like this? What she said to me was she views each phase of her life as a mission. You know the mission, if you are 18 to 22 and you're living in Ohio is just to finish school and enjoy your time there. So the mission all in is finish school. You know if you're 26 to 30 and you're in New York, maybe your mission is try to become as successful as possible at a career that's deeply meaningful. And if you're 30 to 35, whatever it is, maybe the mission right now is, I'm going to pivot into work that I'm passionate about before I'm stuck with a family and it's really, really tough to do that. So trying to view each phase of your life as a mission, which is within that hero's journey, can be really helpful to give your life meaning, especially in the parts of your life that are not so fulfilling. And the last thing that I think can help you is that if you are currently in a descent into hell, right, the road to trials part of that journey, understanding that it's normal. It's a required part of the hero's journey. It's a required piece of the story of the hero with a thousand faces. Because that's just the way that it has to be. There would be no epic saga if it was just, Oh, little Billy wanted to write a book or Paulo Coelho wanted to write a book. His first book ever written was The Alchemist. And in two weeks, he sold a million copies. That's not only unrelatable. It's not even real. The hero's journey involves the suffering and the descent into hell and the frustrations. And I told my mom, I'm going to be, you know, an artist or I'm going to be a successful author. They all laugh in my face. It doesn't work out the first book, the second book, the third book and the fifth book takes off. That's a required part of the journey. So if you feel like you're in hell right now, whether it is on your fitness journey or your entrepreneurial journey or your self-growth journey or your self-love journey, your dating journey, understand that that's a required part of the hero's journey. It is the hero's journey. It doesn't mean that something has gone wrong. You're probably actually just right on track. And the best way, though, to make sure that your life goals will happen, because nothing, of course, is ever guaranteed. The best way, though, is to always be working on yourself, your character and your skills. And one of the ways that I've been able to do that the most is by using services like Skillshare, because it allows you to learn new skills anywhere in the world that can help you become better on your hero's journey. Check out all of the online learning communities and programs that Skillshare has with thousands of inspiring classes for creative and curious people on topics like illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing and more. So take, for example, this course called DIY Filming that I went through. It really helped me, number one, figure out how to really storyboard my video in a much more strategic way versus just being a teacher, as well as how to properly prep a short but sweet kind of highlight reel, as well as edit it, put it together and really polish it to be a much, much better presented piece of content. So Skillshare has classes to fit your schedule and your skill level. Members get unlimited access to thousands of these different kinds of classes with hands-on projects and feedback from a community of millions of people. Now the classes are usually under an hour and they have short lessons to help you fit any schedule. But I would definitely go ahead and check out some of the topics that you might like. Make sure you guys check out that special deal from Skillshare right below this video as you go about your quest to become that hero with a thousand faces. And I'll see you guys in the next video.