What If??
What If?? by Jamie Hansen
One of the things I find most magical about movies is that every once in a while, one comes along with a concept that stretches our thinking and makes us ask, "What If?" Whether it's a drama, romance, comedy, or action film -- the genre doesn't really matter to me -- I find myself captivated with the ability of these movies to help us see things that we didn't notice before, or envision things that haven't yet come to be. From a psychological perspective, I'm a true believer in, "once you see something, you can't un-see it." As for horror movies, they may have us seeing things we don't ever want to see or experience, so let's count that category out for the sake of discussion. Rather, it's those movies that take us on a two- to three-hour journey and leave us asking questions we've never asked before, or envisioning things we've never seen before, that I find particularly compelling.
One movie that comes to mind (especially this month) with this captivating capability is Bill Murray's 1993 "Groundhog Day." It illustrates its theme of experiencing a day that's on constant repeat so well that the concept has become a modern American figure of speech. "Ugh, I feel like I'm living in Groundhog Day!" A unique word picture for those times that life is stuck on repeat -- and not the repeat we want.
Enter Jeep, and their television commercial for their Wrangler Gladiator model, with a fabulous spin on the Groundhog Day concept. They even recruited Bill Murray, a groundhog, and a few of the original movie cast to reprise their roles. If you'd like a day-brightener, you can see it for yourself right here.
Even if your day doesn't need an uplift, I'd highly recommend giving it a look. The commercial ends with the exhortation, "Have the day of your life again and again," and there's an excellent application for us here.
Back to our initial question: What if we've been feeling stuck with life on repeat, and instead of doing something about it, we did something with it? What if I was having the day of my life - at work, at home, at school -- What would that look like? What could I inject on a daily or weekly basis to move in that direction? Maybe it's not snowshoeing in February with a groundhog in a Baby Bjorn, as fun as that sounds. One thing that comes to mind for me is having meaningful conversations with people leaders about what makes them tick, what inspires them, lessons they've learned, and best practices they've found when serving their teams. I get to have this experience every Tuesday afternoon during our Virtual Leader Forum, a weekly positive Groundhog Day event that we started in March of 2020. How about you? What positive Groundhog Day experiences are you injecting into your life?
If your 2022 has felt like it's still stuck on 2021, or even 2020 thus far, you're not alone. Many leaders have expressed feeling similar frustrations as well. As one leader put it in a recent Leader Forum, "It feels like we turned the calendar over to 2022 and nothing has changed." Perhaps you can relate, as I can, and maybe it's time to do something with this experience, especially if it feels like we can't change much about it.
One of our favorite things to do at Alloy is to bring people together for great conversations over outstanding resources. February 24th is our next opportunity for you to hear inspiring messages from Jeff Henderson, Valorie Burton, and Ed Mylett to boost your year and find ways to inject some great Groundhog Day vibes into your life. I invite you to join us for our virtual 2022 Recharge. What if you took a little time to invest in the one who's investing in others? You'll be glad you did and your voice will make a difference at the table. And keep watching -- we'll be sharing more offerings to make the most of your 2022!
