Hero (30 page)

MASTIN KIPP

I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a self-made success or a self-made person, because everybody’s had help along the way.

LAYNE BEACHLEY

All successful people have achieved by standing on the shoulders of others, and it’s important, no matter how successful you are, that you remember and realize who has helped you along in this journey.

No one achieves a dream on his or her own. There are untold numbers of people who will support you and go out of their way to help you on the path to your dream. Of all the experiences we have on the Hero’s Journey, the surprises of people you know and those you barely know who support and help you along the way, are perhaps the most wonderful.

MICHAEL ACTON SMITH

I work with huge supporting networks. Everyone from my family, who has supported me, to investors who put money into the business, to employees who came to work for me even when ideas were just a sketch on the napkin.

LAYNE BEACHLEY

Setting an auspicious goal to become a world champion as an eight year old was obviously very challenging, and there were times when I wanted to quit and I wanted to walk away and put my hands up in the air and say, “This is all just too hard.” Fortunately I had individuals in my life at those poignant times who picked me up and went, “You can do this. I believe in you.” And when someone who you respect and appreciate in your life tells you that they believe in you, it instills so much belief in you. It’s really important that you have those people in your life.

During the making of
The Secret
film, there were an endless number of people who came into our lives and helped us with the next step we needed to take. In addition to all of those allies, I had a team of people who worked with me to create the film, and without their dedication and support my dream would never have come true.

There was a time when I didn’t have enough money to pay my team their salaries. I had mortgaged my home to the limit, taken out overdrafts, and maxed out every credit card I had to keep the production of the film going, but I reached this heartbreaking day where I did not have the money to pay my team. Do you know what they did? A couple of my senior team members got together and withdrew cash on their credit cards to pay those who couldn’t survive without their salary. Without a doubt, the people in my team were my greatest allies.

ANASTASIA SOARE

Life is a challenge. If you think life is smooth and it’s perfect, you are wrong or you are delusional.

PETER BURWASH

Every day has hurdles. There’s nobody who wakes up in the morning without something wrong physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Accept the fact that you’re going to have hurdles. Everybody has them. People say, “Why me?” Why not you?

“The path to your goal is not always going to be smooth. Obstacles will arise and problems will develop, but you have to remember what you’re striving for… don’t forget the big picture and don’t let small mishaps or small failures stop you.”

Derek Jeter

American Baseball Champion

Challenges and Obstacles

Every obstacle or challenge you encounter on the Hero’s Journey transforms you as you acquire strength of character and the qualities and abilities you need to overcome the obstacle or challenge. The emergence of these qualities and abilities shape you into the kind of person you need to become to achieve your dream. For that reason, challenges and obstacles are great indications that you are well along the way on your Hero’s Journey. In fact, the bigger the obstacles and challenges you face, the bigger your success will be, and the closer you are to achieving it.

MASTIN KIPP

The number-one thing people gain from challenges is not the stuff they get, but who they become. When you face a challenge and you overcome that challenge, you have greater faith in yourself, you have greater faith in your abilities, you have greater trust of the divine, and you can do something even bigger. Overcoming obstacles is perhaps the greatest gift – far greater than the stuff that you get. Because that’s something that can’t ever be taken from you.

PETER BURWASH

Once you go through a series of heartaches, challenges, upside-downs, capsizing, whatever, you always come out the better because of the tremendous self-confidence gained.

If you have ever faced anything in your life that you had no choice but to overcome, you will have found strengths that you didn’t know you had. Those strengths you gain form your character and transform you into someone greater than you were before. Women who have given birth know this well. Mothers need to be strong to raise and care for a baby. They need patience, tolerance, determination, and physical endurance. The experience of labor and giving birth prepares them for motherhood with the necessary strengths and qualities to do it well. It’s because of her strength through the most difficult times that many of us consider our mother a hero.