The Hero's 2 Journeys - Achievement & Transformation

This blog post is a transcript from the video at the bottom of the post.

I first heard about these two journeys from a book, [The Hero’s 2 Journeys], or maybe it was a course by Michael Hauge and Chris Vogler. I know these two journeys are critical to storytelling. They are also true to life. That’s why these two journeys help so much with storytelling. People want a story that relates to real life. The two journeys are the outer path and the inner path. If I am pursuing a massive goal, people can see the steps I am taking. They can see the things that didn’t work. They can see my path towards that goal. If this is a cybersecurity certification, they can see the studying I am putting in, the videos I am watching, the bootcamp I take. They can see all the activities. So that’s one of those hero’s journeys, and it doesn’t have to be a hero’s path, it is just called the hero’s path.

The second one, which is more important, is the inner path. The first one I described as the outer path, the one everyone can see as I am moving towards some goal or achievement. The inner path though is what’s really important. That’s the transformation I make along the way. How I change internally, how my belief system changes, how my identity changes, et cetera, et cetera. To achieve my goal, if it's a big goal, I may have to change internally to become a different person capable of achieving that goal. So that’s the second path, and that’s the transformation. Really, if I want to think about the two journeys, there’s the path of achievement, which is external, and there’s the path of transformation, which is internal. For any good story, I need these two elements.

Because I think a lot about how this applies to life, for life, when you pursue something, people can see if you achieve it or not. But really what happens if you’re pursuing a new career, a new certification, a college degree, the most important part, and I think people lose focus of this sometimes, is the transformation of you through that process. Because often to achieve a higher goal, or if you set a higher standard for yourself, through that process, you become a better person or you develop different capabilities, or you change your belief system to support this new thing you’re trying to obtain. And sometimes through this path, you may realize that this thing you’re trying to obtain, this achievement or goal, isn’t actually that important anymore. Because through this process, you’ve grown and figured out what really matters to you. That’s the transformation. I urge you if you’re pursuing a goal, to think not only about what you’re trying to achieve, but think about the path you’re on, and how this changes you as a person.