The stories we tell about ourselves and others are a crucial part of how humans communicate. We perhaps tend to think of stories in terms of something we primarily communicate with a third party, but research from Wharton shows that the stories we tell ourselves are equally important.
At the heart of most stories is the so-called hero’s journey, whereby the protagonist overcome often extraordinary odds to achieve their desired outcome. The journey usually sees them accompanied by friends and allies as they overcome challenges along the way, with enemies grappled with, before the positive outcome is achieved.
Our own heroes
The researchers wanted to test whether the hero’s journey could be useful in our personal lives as well as in making stories incredibly engaging.
They began by identifying some key characteristics of a hero’s journey, including a shift in the life of the hero toward a goal that features a number of challenges along the way. The journey also typically features friends and allies to help us, with the hero undergoing a form of transformation during the journey.
They then looked at whether this can help us in terms of how we perceive our lives and how we face the various challenges we encounter. Participants were asked to construct the stories of their lives and whether they viewed their lives as similar to that of a hero’s journey.
A meaningful life
The process revealed that when we view our lives as in keeping with the hero’s journey, we’re much more inclined to view it as meaningful.
This prompted the researchers to explore whether we can be coaxed into thinking of our lives in this way. The participants were invited to think about crucial elements of their lives through the lens of the hero’s journey.
This relatively simple process was enough to ensure that people viewed their lives as more meaningful. This is important, as obviously nothing material had changed about their lives, it was purely a matter of perspective and framing that changed their perceptions of it.
The journey we’re on
Instead of thinking of life as a random collection of events, think of it like a hero’s journey. This applies to both your personal and work life. Instead of just looking at your job history as a bunch of different jobs, consider it as a journey. Think about the challenges you’ve faced, the goals you’re aiming for, and the people who’ve supported you. How have you changed along the way?
The qualities that make hero stories interesting also make our own journeys more meaningful and help us bounce back from tough times. People who were told to see their lives or work as a hero’s journey were more resilient. This idea has important implications for both our personal and professional lives.
While we can’t change what has happened to us during our lives, we can most certainly change both how we perceive these events and how we communicate them to others. The more we’re able to view our life as a journey the more likely we are to derive lasting meaning from it as we tap into the power of storytelling.
What’s more, the hero’s journey should also influence how we pitch ourselves to others. We’re increasingly using social media to tell the world about our lives, but we could still be more intentional in the use of the hero’s journey narrative when doing so. What’s more, this approach could also help us during things like job interviews and other professional settings where we’re required to present ourselves.
Craft the narrative
So, when we go into a job interview, rather than merely recounting the chronological series of dates we were in various roles during our life, we should instead frame our career as a journey toward a greater quest.
Ask ourselves what that ultimate goal was, what challenges we overcame along the way, what help we received, and how we’ve ultimately been transformed by the journey. This not only makes our career more compelling and interesting, but the researchers believe it will significantly increase the likelihood that we’ll be offered the job.
What’s more, if you can try to tie all of your answers during the interview to this common thread, the researchers believe that you’ll produce much better answers to typical interview questions, like why you applied for this role or what challenges you’ve overcome in your career.
We all love a good story, whether it’s in books, TV programs, or movies. Now it’s perhaps time we use that same storytelling process to make our own lives more meaningful and compelling.
