The Hero's 2 Journeys - Achievement & Transformation
Everyone talks about achieving goals. Finish the race, get the cert, close the deal. That's the easy part, the surface-level stuff everyone sees. Most people miss the deeper journey, the internal grind that truly matters. You want to accomplish anything significant? You better grasp both paths.
The takeaways
- 01Recognize two distinct journeys in any major endeavor: an outer path (achievement) and an inner path (transformation).
- 02Focus on how big goals change you internally, not just what you accomplish externally.
- 03Understand that true transformation may alter your perception of the initial goal.
- 04Prioritize your internal growth; it forms a better person capable of higher achievements.
- 05Use both achievement and transformation to craft a compelling, real-life story for yourself.
This blog post is a transcript from the video at the bottom of the post.
Pretty much for any endeavor or goal, we try to achieve in life, there are two journeys we’re on. I first heard of these two journeys, I think, from this book called The Hero’s 2 Journeys. It’s also a course by Michael Hauge and Chris Vogler. But these two journeys are critical to storytelling, but they’re true to life as well. And that’s why with storytelling, they help so much, because people want a story that relates to real life. The two journeys are the outer path and the inner path. So if you’re pursuing something and it’s a massive goal, from the outside, people can see the steps you’re taking. They can see the things that didn’t work. They can see your path towards that goal. So if this is a cybersecurity certification, they can see the studying you’re putting in, the videos you’re watching, the bootcamp you 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. So the first one I described as the outer path, the one everyone can see as you’re moving towards some goal or achievement. The inner path though is what’s really important. That’s the transformation you make along the way. So how you change internally, how your belief system changes, how your identity changes, et cetera, et cetera. Because to achieve your goal, if it’s a big goal, you 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. So really, if you 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. And for any good story, we 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.
“To achieve a big goal, you likely need to change internally, becoming a different person capable of that achievement.”
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