Hero on a Mission
A Path to a Meaningful Life
This is our first note on one of Donald Miller's books. In this book Donald Miller integrates wisdom from Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. And, as you’d expect seeing that this is a book about a modern Hero (that would be YOU!) on a mission, Donald also touches on Joseph Campbellian themes throughout. The book is PACKED with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!
Big Ideas
- Victim + Villain + Hero + GuideVictim, villain, hero, guide.
- How to Ruin a Good StoryPlay the role of victim.
- The Hero Turned Guide: Viktor FranklThe ultimate Heroic guide.
- Pleasure vs. MeaningChoose wisely.
- A Morning Ritual to Guide Your StoryTo keep your story on track.
“As I understood more about the powerful characteristics of heroes in literature and in movies, though, I became curious about whether embodying some of those characteristics would create a better life experience.
Living like a hero (which is nothing like you might think—heroes are anything but strong and capable; they are simply victims going through a process of transformation), entered me into, unknowingly, something called logotherapy, a therapy created by a Viennese psychologist named Viktor Frankl. I will explain much more about logotherapy in this book.
Entering into logotherapy changed my life for the better. I went from being sad to being content. I went from unproductive to productive. And I went from having certain fears of close relationships to being able to enter into and enjoy those relationships. Mostly, though, I went from feeling life was meaningless to experiencing a deep sense of meaning.
About ten years into living this way, I created a life plan and daily planner that helped me turn all of those helpful ideas into a system. And that’s what this book is all about. It’s about living like a hero so you can experience a deep sense of meaning. The book teaches a simple-to-use system allowing anybody to live a life that delivers a deep sense of meaning.
If you have struggled with a feeling of futility, or if you are tired of the story you’ve been living, or if you are having to start over and create a new reality for yourself, I hope you find this book to be helpful.”
~ Donald Miller from Hero on a Mission
Hero on a Mission.
As you can imagine, as a guy with HEROIC tattooed in rather large letters on my left forearm, I am magnetically drawn to the word “Hero,” especially when I find it in the title of a book. :)
I’m pretty sure I found this book on Amazon as a recommended read as I was buying Admiral William McRaven’s great book The Hero Code.
And, I’m glad I did. It’s fantastic. (Get a copy here.)
Donald Miller is the CEO of Business Made Simple and the author of a number of books including another one I have in my library called Building a Storybrand.
He’s a fantastic writer who integrates wisdom from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning into our Heroic missions. His inspiring, to-the-point style of writing reminds me of Steven Pressfield and a bunch of his books we’ve featured. Check out our Notes on The War of Art, Do the Work, Turning Pro, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Artist’s Journey for more.
And, as you’d expect seeing that this is a book about a modern Hero (that would be YOU!) on a mission, Donald also touches on Joseph Campbellian themes throughout. Check out our Notes on A Joseph Campbell Companion, The Power of Myth, Pathways to Bliss, and A Hero with a Thousand Faces for more. And, of course, if you haven’t watched Finding Joe yet, get on that! (Trailer here. Full movie for free here.)
The book is PACKED with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!
Download MP3
Download PDFWhat is the essence of heroic energy? A hero wants something in life and is willing to accept challenges in order to transform into the person capable of getting what they want.
Get the BookVictim + Villain + Hero + Guide
“In stories, there are four primary characters:
1. The victim is the character who feels they have no way out.
2. The villain is the character who makes others small.
3. The hero is the character who faces their challenges and transforms.
4. The guide is the character who helps the hero.
As you read a story or watch a movie, you feel sympathy for the victim, you cheer for the hero, you hate the villain, and you respect the guide.
These four characters exist in stories not only because they exist in the real world but because they exist inside you and me.”
Those are the very first words in the Introduction.
The Victim. The Villain. The Hero. The Guide.
Those are the four characters we find in any given story AND they are the four characters we each play every day.
As Don tells us: “In my life I play all four characters every day. If I’m faced with an unfair challenge, I usually play the victim for a minute, feeling sorry for myself. If I am wronged, I dream of vengeance, like a villain. If I come up with a good idea and want to make it happen, I switch into hero mode to take action, and if somebody calls and needs my advice, I play the guide.”
The question is: Which roles do you find yourself playing most these days?
Helping us make the shift from victim/villain to hero (and ultimately to guide!) is, of course, what the book is all about. Let’s explore some ways to go about doing that!
The heroic transformation begins when the hero takes responsibility for their life and their story. The hero becomes the hero only when they decide to accept the facts of their life and respond with courage.
How to Ruin a Good Story
“If you were a writer and came to me with a troubled story and said, ‘Don, this story isn’t working. It’s not interesting and I don’t know how to fix it,’ the first thing I’d look at is the lead character. Who is this story about and why isn’t this character working to make the story more meaningful?
As I mentioned in the introduction, there are four major characters in nearly every story: the victim, the villain, the hero, and the guide. One thing that will ruin a story fast is if the hero—the character that the story is about—acts like a victim.
You cannot have a lead character in a story that acts like a victim. This is true in stories and it’s true in life. In fact, this is true in stories because it’s true in life.
The reason a hero that acts like a victim ruins the story is because a story must move forward to be interesting. The hero must want something that is different and perhaps even frightening to achieve. This is the plot of nearly every inspirational story you’ve ever read.
A victim, on the other hand, does not move forward or accept challenges. Instead, a victim gives up because they have come to believe they are doomed.”
That’s from the first chapter in which Don walks us through each of the characters we find in a good hero’s journey and that we play in our lives on a daily basis.
As I read that passage, I thought of a line from Finding Joe that happens to be in the trailer.
Robert Walter, the Executive Director of The Joseph Campbell Foundation tells us: “I think people wake up to the fact that they are the hero of their own life when they get tired of being the victim of it.”
← EXACTLY.
Remember...
YOU ARE THE HERO OF YOUR LIFE’S STORY.
And, know this...
The fastest way to ruin *any* story including your own life story is simple. Act like a victim. NO ONE wants to watch a movie in which the would-be hero is acting like a victim.
So...
Why would you expect to enjoy the movie that is your life if you’re not willing to make it interesting by stepping up and HEROICALLY facing your challenges and giving us all you’ve got?
As Don tells us: “For practical purposes, it is my position that the author of our stories is actually us. Perhaps the single greatest paradigm shift I’ve had as a human being is this idea: I am writing my story and I alone have the responsibility to shape it into something meaningful.”
And, remember: “The heroic transformation begins when the hero takes responsibility for their life and their story. The hero becomes the hero only when they decide to accept the facts of their life and respond with courage.”
P.S. Later in the book, Don talks about something known as “Karpman’s drama triangle.” That model is the basis of one of my favorite little books called The Power of TED*. Check out the Notes on that book—which happens to be one of the first three Notes I ever created.
The short story? You can be a “Victim” stuck in what David Emerald calls “The Dreaded Drama Triangle” in which you are tormented by life in the form of people and challenges you see as “Persecutors” while you seek “Rescuers” to save you.
Or... You can be a “Creator” living in “The Empowerment Dynamic” in which you view those same stressors as “Challengers” rather than “Persecutors” as you seek wise “Coaches” to support you on your Heroic quest rather than “Rescuers” to save you from your misery.
The trick to making the shift from Victim to Creator? Quit complaining and ask yourself ONE simple question: “What do I want?” Then, of course, go do what you need to do to get it.
Victims and villains do not create meaning for themselves or for the world. Heroes and guides do. We build lives of meaning by stating an ambition, by enduring challenges, and by sharing our lives with others.
The Hero Turned Guide: Viktor Frankl
“My favorite philosopher, Viktor Frankl, is a terrific example of a real victim who, through sheer strength of will, summoned the heroic energy to transform himself to live an incredible story.
In the 1930s, his therapy, called logotherapy, began to invite people who saw themselves as victims into a life of meaning. Logotherapy translates into a therapy of meaning. Frankl used it to treat patients who were suicidal, and the treatment worked. Many of the patients experienced a positive transformation as they began to work on projects, join communities, and consciously reframe their pain to see it as a benefit. He taught patients to realize their own agency.
Frankl’s theory about life having meaning even in the midst of extreme pain and suffering was tested and proven. The psychologist had been working hard on a manuscript explaining his theory when the Nazis invaded Vienna in 1938. As a Jew, he was taken captive. Before he was taken, though, his wife, Tilly, sewed his manuscript into the lining of his coat so he could continue his work. On day one of the concentration camp, his coat and manuscript were taken. His work was lost.
The Nazis then separated the psychologist from Tilly, who was pregnant with their first child. She was then murdered in the camps, along with his unborn child. Frankl would soon learn that his mother and father had been murdered too. He was understandably despondent and near suicidal himself.
Instead of taking his life, though, he realized his life could still have purpose. He accepted agency over what he could still control and somehow, even in the camps, began rewriting the manuscript in his mind. Even amidst the forced labor and death that surrounded him, he continued his work, not allowing his captors to take what remained of his agency.”
It’s hard to imagine a more gut-wrenching, yet ultimately Heroically inspiring story.
Viktor Frankl, our young philosopher and psychotherapist helps suicidal people move from despair to hope as they create lives of meaning. He loses his pregnant (!) wife and their unborn child along with his mother and father in the horrors of the Holocaust. Frankl is now nearly suicidal himself.
Then...
He somehow manages to preserve what he would later call “the last of human freedoms”—his ability to CHOOSE how he would respond to those ineffably painful challenges.
What did he do? He chose to practice his philosophy and play his role well. He was a therapist in a concentration camp. Therefore, he would do his duty to his fellow captives and help THEM create meaning in their lives.
THAT is why a Heroic portrait of Viktor Frankl is staring at me from the wall behind me as I type this. He is literally in exactly the central spot on my wall of fifteen of my favorite heroes. He is right below Aristotle and above Abraham Maslow—embodying the integration of ancient wisdom and modern science. He is in between Epictetus and Gandhi—embodying the integration of practical philosophy and service.
Check out the Notes on Man’s Search for Meaning for more of his extraordinary wisdom. For now, here are a few incredibly inspiring pieces of wisdom to have in mind as we take the next steps on our Heroic missions together.
Frankl tells us: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
And: “It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
And: “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life... Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.”
Spotlight on YOU: What is YOUR specific mission in life? Know this: You cannot be replaced. We need you to do your duty and fulfill your destiny.
P.S. Don tells us that Frankl’s wisdom was THE most impactful in helping him create a life of deep meaning and help so many others do the same.
Stanford professor and leading scholar on the science of moral development and purpose, William Damon, echoes that perspective in his new book called A Round of Golf with My Father. Damon’s book is all about helping us create a “coherent narrative” for our lives by integrating our past with our present so we can create an inspiring future.
P.P.S. Want to see how Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant’s mindfulness coach, George Mumford, taught them how to apply Viktor Frankl’s wisdom to become the best at what they did? Check out our Notes on The Mindful Athlete.
P.P.P.S. Frankl was deeply inspired by Stoicism. Check out our collection of dozens of Notes on Stoics and the Notes on Donald Robertson’s The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Massimo Pigliucci’s How to Be a Stoic in particular. Massimo tells us: “His moving and inspiring story of resilience can be read as a contemporary example of Stoicism in practice.”
Viktor Frankl used to say it is not our right to question whether or not life has meaning, rather it is life that questions us. Will you make your life meaningful or will you suffer the existential vacuum?
Pleasure vs. Meaning
“Viktor Frankl was right. All the good characteristics life offers can and should happen. In fact, he had been a prominent neurologist and psychiatrist in Vienna during the 1930s, a couple decades after Sigmund Freud popularized psychoanalysis by espousing that the desire for pleasure motivated human behavior. Frankl disagreed with Freud. Frankl said man did not have a will to pleasure but a will to meaning. And when man couldn’t find meaning, he distracted himself with pleasure.
Why are we so restless? Because ice cream is distracting but not fulfilling. Because alcohol offers a fabricated sense of peace. Because lust is not love.
Frankl was right. We distract ourselves with pleasure when we can’t find a sense of meaning.”
In case it wasn’t obvious, I side with Frankl on his debate with Freud.
And, I love the way Don frames it here. We try to numb ourselves with excessive pursuits of PLEASURE when we fail to create a life of deep MEANING.
This is why Objective I in Basic Training and Module I in our Mastery Series (and the first Objective in the Heroic book that’s coming soon!) are all about making sure we know the ULTIMATE game we’re playing because, unfortunately, for the last 2,500 years (!) society has seduced us into playing the WRONG game.
Getting this fact and making the subtle but significant shift is THE FASTEST WAY to change our lives. We need to shift from pursuing the extrinsic markers of success (like fame and wealth and hotness and... pleasure!) and, instead, focus on the INTRINSIC goodness that ancient wisdom traditions and modern science say are the true basis of a good life (like personal growth, relationships and making a contribution to your community).
Get that right and CREATE TRUE MEANING and... Voila. Life is vastly improved.
The Stoics talk about this as well.
Ward Farnsworth puts it brilliantly in The Practicing Stoic where he tells us: “Stoics regard virtue as sufficient to produce happiness on all occasions, and also as necessary for it. The happiness centrally valued by the Stoic is eudaimonia, or well-being—the good life rather than the good mood. But the Stoic believes that virtue gives rise to joy and to peace of mind as well. Virtue produces these good consequences as side effects. The primary mission of the Stoics, in other words, is to be helpful to others and serve the greater good, and they don’t do this to make themselves happy. They do it because it is the right and natural way to live. But doing it in that spirit, as it turns out, makes them happy.”
In stories, characters who try hard things transform. They have to. The person they were is not enough to overcome their challenges. They have to get stronger, humbler, more tender, smarter. They have to change to get over the wall. And in the growing pains that come with transformation, there is an experience of meaning.
A Morning Ritual to Guide Your Story
“What we need is a tool to help us stay on track.
For more than ten years I have been performing a simple morning ritual that channels my focus and intensity. The ritual involves reviewing my life plan and then filling out a daily planner page. Regardless of how foggy my mind is, my ritual changes the way I see the world. My morning ritual gives me clarity about what my story is about, why it’s important, and what I need to do that day to put something on the plot. With that clarity, I start my day.”
That’s from a chapter called “A Morning Ritual to Guide and Direct Your Story.” It comes right before a section in which Don tells us: “A hero does not lose the plot in their story.”
In addition to not losing the plot in their story, btw, let’s remember that a Hero does not wallow in the self-pity of being a victim. Don’t forget: Rule #1 of a good, Heroic mission is simple: IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE CHALLENGING!! All those challenges that are SUPPOSED TO SHOW UP on our quests are fuel for our growth as we strive to become the best versions of ourselves in service to something bigger than ourselves.
And... If we want to have the antifragile confidence to know that we have what it takes to meet any and all of the challenges life inevitably sends our way, we’d be wise to create daily rituals. We’ll each have our own idiosyncratic styles but the best, most fulfilled among us will take the time to figure out what OUR Heroic rituals look like.
As Tal Ben-Shahar tells us in Happier: “For athletes, being a top performer is a deeply held value, and therefore they create rituals around training... If we hold our personal happiness as a value and want to become happier, then we need to form rituals around that, too.”
Don’s morning practice includes reading his eulogy along with his 10, 5 and 1-year visions for his life and reading his goal-setting worksheets. Of course, we architected our entire Heroic app to help us remember the ultimate game we’re playing as we recommit to showing up as our best, most Heroic versions of ourselves in our Energy, our Work and our Love so we can move from Theory to Practice to Mastery TODAY.
So... How do YOU start YOUR day?
What can you do to be a little (or a lot!) more intentional about it?
Get on that. We need you at your best. As Joseph Campbell says: “It is not society that is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse.”
It’s time to fulfill your mission, Hero.
I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold service was joy.
About the author
