on creating your own green lights, bucking instructions, and HOPE


“Silence is a very important word."
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Hello and my very best to you and yours.

Here are three things that I've been thinking about that I'm excited to share with you.

***

on creating your own green lights
I have a crush on Jennifer Lawrence. And not a small one. On top of her acting chops, her honesty, humanity, and hilarity in interviews are priceless (I mean check out this reel). Actors may be experts in being someone else. But I’ll be dammed if in interviews Jennifer isn’t exceedingly good at being herself — and she’s adored for it.

However, it wasn’t something funny Jennifer said that caught my attention this past week — it was when she got serious on Actress Roundtable when discussing how she took control of her career after allowing other people to hijack her choices (min 18:50).

“Yeah, I was at a really big agency and I just feel like I had kind of given away my agency. But that was also my fault. I would watch things and be such a fan. I would watch Uncut Gems and be like, ‘Oh my God, the Safdies (the two brothers who directed the film) — it'd be so cool to work with them!’ But I didn't reach out and that's something I've gotten better about in the last few years. When I'm a fan, I now let that person know.
I also think a lot of it was just kinda losing touch with the world a little bit. I think I was working so much and a lot of what we do has to do with observing people. And I felt like I couldn't really observe anyone because everybody was observing me. So taking a few years and kind of getting back to life, I feel like I can be creative again.”

Steal a line from Jennifer and ask for what you want.

And of equal value, never, ever, stop observing other people.

Red lights turn green when we get out of our heads and embrace the theater of life.

***

on bucking instructions
A friend of mine has three teenagers and is fighting to ensure they keep their creative spirit alive. Since some of my kid’s friends are already glued to screens, I asked for her best piece of advice to ensure my kids keep their creative juices flowing.

“Buy a bucket of Legos and buck the ones that come with instructions. Let them make their own damn helicopters, tigers, and dinosaurs.”

It’s funny how powerfully one thought can hit us. Sure, there’s a time to follow instructions. But I don’t know about you, I don’t want my kids to make a perfect helicopter, tiger, or dinosaur by following instructions designed by someone who gets paid to make their life easier.

I want them to treat their curiosity as their primary responsibility. Most of all, I want to see them eager to face the beautiful struggle of learning to turn their mental images into reality.

My favorite creations of my kids, the ones we have displayed on our shelves and hanging on our walls, are the times when they had an idea, wrestled with it, and created something uniquely their own while biting their tongue.

To the outside eye, their creations may not make sense. There are tears on some and eraser marks on others. To their young minds though, making their art without instructions is their way of expressing themselves and making sense of the world.

This same rule applies to us as adults. Give yourself the time to free-draw, free-write, and free-build. Don’t overthink it. No one has to see it. Let your body move in motion with your mind.

The best things in life, more times than not, don’t come with a roadmap.

***

on HOPE
A client was at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Without a doubt, she said the highlight of her experience was getting a chance to see 19-year-old poet, Salome Agbaroji, recite a poem she wrote specifically for the event. It's stunning. It's one of those pieces of art that make me want to stop writing... at least for a few minutes.

When I was ye high,
My hopes were way higher.
Inspired by the fairytales
And princess dress attire.
If you just believe, they said,
Everything bleak becomes beautiful,
The pebbles become pearls and
We all get our happy endings.
But when I outgrew those glass slippers,
I saw no hope on our screens,
In the children’s screams.
As the story unfolds more smoke unfurls and
All of a sudden I’m that child again
Tugging at the pant leg of History
Asking, “is there more to the story
Or is happily ever after only a thing of fiction?”
But then I remember
The hero’s journey is long and hard
And always only won in the final act.
And the valiant protagonist of this epic called “Earth”
Is named HOPE.
But this HOPE isn’t the idle optimist
That sits on stumps plucking petals.
Instead, we are getting our hands dirty
And planting the seeds ourselves.
This HOPE isn’t wishing on a lucky star.
It is imagining a future where stars are visible in the first place
Past the clouds of CO2 we struggle seeing through.
In this story,
Women across the globe are their own knights in shining armour,
or presidents or bankers, or mothers or farmers.
HOPE is a call to the unseen
And a claim to what’s yet to be.
HOPE is the hero we need.
I’m not concerned
With whether you call it a glass half full or a glass half empty.
This HOPE is ensuring there is clean water in that glass
Today, tomorrow, and every tomorrow after that.
We are not kissing lucky quarters
And throwing them into wishing wells.
We are convening in common quarters
To protect and preserve health and wellness.
This is the difference between a wish and a goal.
We do not seek magic potions or genies in bottles,
We exercise our devotion with potential at full throttle.
With 5 years left,
Marvel at the mountains we scaled,
The dragons we’ve slain,
Remember that the sweetest victories
Are the ones with the buzzer-beater turnarounds,
When the hero
On the lowest bars of health
Falls face-to-face with certain defeat,
But with faith, rises to their feet
And fights on.
HOPE is not the way that we cope,
But the way that we conquer.
So this year and beyond,
We aren’t crossing our fingers,
We’re crossing finish lines.
Let’s write a finale worthy of applause
Because every life on this planet
Has its own narrative
Worthy and deserving
Of its own happily ever after.

***

That's it for today.

Have a great rest of the week and until next time, observe others, buck instructions wherever you can, and view HOPE as not a way to cope, but the way that we conquer.

Onwards.
—Michael

PS: The best way to help me keep the lights on and to keep newsletters like this one free is to grab a copy of my book and leave an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Shy by Design: 12 Timeless Principles to Quietly Stand Out

It makes for a great gift for any of your shy or reserved friends, colleagues, and family members who have something to say but struggle to bet on themselves.

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Memorable — by Michael Thompson

Join thousands of thoughtful readers for reflections on life, love, and doing work that matters. Storytelling and communication strategist. Fast Co. Forbes. The Blog of Steven Pressfield, Insider, MSN, Apple News. Debut book — Shy by Design: 12 Timeless Principles to Quietly Stand Out — hits bookstores July 16th.

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