Extreme Productivity Hack: Turn Your Life Into A Movie | E143

So — I turned my life into a movie. Yes, you read that correctly. 

Actually, more accurately, I turned my life into a TV show. And this changed my life. I was inspired by a book I read called A Million Miles in A Thousand Years by Donald Miller.

In this blog, I’ll share a summary of how turning my life into daytime television helped me:

1. Resolve the feeling of mediocrity in my life.
2. Disrupt my brainwashed worldview of what’s considered “normal” socially, professionally, and relationally.
3. Implement a productivity hack that I have never seen anywhere else that completely changed my approach to everyday life. 

But before we start, you can also listen to the Build Your Vision Podcast episode about this blog post if that’s easier.

Okay, let’s get into it.

The movie about your life is…boring

Donald Miller, the author of A Million Miles In A Thousand Years, wrote another memoir called Blue Like Jazz. It was a bestseller. So much so that a filmmaking crew reached out to him because they wanted to turn his book into a movie. 

Sounds great, right? 

Miller agreed. But not long after agreeing and meeting with the filmmakers, he realized that the movie they were making was not the book he had written. They were changing everything. 

Then one day, he finally stopped them. He asked them straight up, “Why are you changing my life story?” The filmmakers replied, “Well, Don, it’s because your story is boring.”

Yikes! It was a blow that Miller wasn’t expecting but couldn’t refute. At that point, he realized something. We often write stories for our lives that never leave our desks and make it to the “big screen.” On paper, our stories look good and sound good. 

You got your degree. 

You secured a nice job. 

You got married. 

But if your story was on the big screen? Honestly, it would be painstakingly boring. 

There were no risks, no inciting incidents, no stakes at all! 

This realization encouraged Miller to take more control over creating a life for himself that would be a box office hit. He was going to stop playing things safe and actually give his best shot at living the life he wanted.

How many of us do that?

I know this inspired me. When I read about Miller, I was having a similar feeling. My life looked pretty good on paper but was super boring on screen. 

I hadn’t taken any risks. 

I hadn’t pursued what I truly wanted.

I was trying to check the boxes so that others would think I was successful. 

I was even seeing the monotony in my walk with Christ. My faith had become a routine (at best), and it was definitely not a living, breathing relationship.

So I thought to myself, “Hmm, what if I turned my life into a movie?” And I gave it a try.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t work. 

Here’s why.

I realized that life is actually more like a TV show than a movie. Movies have a beginning, middle, and end. Movies have a set amount of characters. Movies are only going to be so long. 

But TV shows go as long as the story needs to be. They have a beginning, but no set ending. The characters are fluid and evolve over time. At times new ones are introduced, while others depart. I realized that life is a lot like a TV show!

4 Steps to Revolutionizing My Productivity

I adopted the attitude that every day of my life was an episode in my TV show. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this mindset shift would revolutionize my productivity.

Here’s exactly how I did it, step by step.

1. Discover your “why”

Your “why” is the purpose behind your dream. It’s meaning. 

Every show has an underlying purpose. That purpose could simply be to make you laugh or to educate you so you take some desired action. 

Every show has an intentional purpose (other than making money). Your life needs intentional meaning and purpose as well. But unlike television, you don’t create your why, you discover it. It’s been with you for your entire life, you just need to be made aware of it.

Write down meaningful life experiences

A simple way to do this is to write down the most meaningful, impactful, and/or memorable experiences in your life from the day you were born until yesterday. Most people are surprised that there’s a connected theme across these experiences. 

Notice your themes. When you see the one that moves your heart the most, the one that, if removed, you would cease being you. That’s your why.

Why statement formula

Here’s an easy formula to build your why statement:

“To ___ (contribution) so that ___ (impact) because ___ (reason)."

Why statement example

“To live optimally so that others are inspired to do the same because the world doesn’t need more information, it needs more examples.”

This is a necessity for your life’s screenplay. Your show (AKA your life) needs an underlying purpose.

2. Articulate your vision

Your vision is the painted picture of your dream. You can articulate your vision by asking yourself the question, “What do I deeply believe should be in the world but isn’t?” This helps you uncover the world you want to create with your contribution.

Vision formula

An easy formula for writing a vision statement is:

“Imagine ___ because ___ should ___.

Vision examples

Tesla

Imagine a world where each home owns an electric vehicle because cars should love the environment, not kill it.

Apple 

Imagine a personal computer in every home because every person should have access to a computer, not just the wealthy.

Your character needs an ideal to strive for, or else there’s no motive or momentum in your story.

3. Establish your mission

Your mission is the plan for your dream. What’s the goal you need to accomplish for your dream to become a reality?

I like to split my mission into two parts, a macro-mission and a micro-mission. The macro-mission is the big, audacious goal that puts you in a good position to make your vision a reality. Your micro-mission is the thing you need to accomplish next, the very next step.

Let’s stick with our Tesla example. Elon’s macro-mission is to have 100 million Teslas on the road by 2030. His micro-mission may be to perfect the latest iteration of the long-distance battery.

Your character needs a goal that they try to accomplish each day in service of the macro-mission.

4. Construct your premise

A premise is the last piece you need for your screenplay. Every show needs and has a premise. Every description that you read while browsing Netflix for your next show to binge is a premise.

Every premise has 3 characteristics:

1. A defined character(s)
2. A mission
3. Adversity

Here’s an example from Breaking Bad:

A high school chemistry teacher (character) dying of cancer (adversity) teams up with a former student to secure his family’s future by manufacturing and selling crystal meth (mission).

For Tesla, the premise would be:

A wiz kid from South Africa (character) with Asperger’s (adversity) attempts to revolutionize the world by pushing the boundaries of science (mission).

After I determined these components of my screenplay, I treated every day like an episode that led to my character’s mission.  I reviewed how I felt my show was going daily and weekly.

This essentially forces three outcomes:

1. Focus: If each day was an episode, each day had to have a focused objective that supported my why, vision, and mission. Even Seinfeld, a show about nothing, had an objective for each episode.
2. Ego: I wanted to make my life a good show. I didn’t want the show to be boring. I wanted it to be Emmy-worthy. So therefore, I became more intentional about making my life one I would be proud to watch on the big screen — even if no one else liked it.
3. Intentionality: It forced me to become the main character of my life. I had to wake up with main-character energy each day because I am the main character! It forced me to have a vision, a mission, and a premise for my life. It provided me with clarity and intentionality.

I explain this whole concept in much more detail. You can find that inside Visionpreneur School, my online community for aspiring transformational content creators who want to make an impact, have influence, and create income with their ideas, and insights for the glory of God.

The Key to Extreme Productivity

The key to extreme productivity in your life is not being more organized. The key to extreme productivity is clarity and intentionality with time and energy. 

You can only achieve this level of clarity by changing your mindset, the lens through which you view your life. You have to become the main character; each episode of your life should lead to your vision and mission and align with your character's premise. Everything else is minutiae. Just distractions to be eliminated or mitigated.

Just think about a room that you would like to be clean. It’s junky. It’s messy. It’s completely out of order.

You go into super cleaning mode and put everything in its proper place. You organize items with labeled bins and folders. You dust, sweep, and vacuum, and the room is now in pristine condition. 

Hooray! Mission accomplished.

But then you need to grab an item or get some work done. Dust starts to collect in your bins, and the floor is hard to completely sweep and vacuum because of all the file cabinets in the way. 

All of sudden, your once sparkling clean room is cluttered and disorganized all over again.

This is what happens in our lives when we think the answer to our productivity is organization and management. We finally get around to doing a deep clean on our lives just for life to continue to go on as before, and soon everything is back out of place.

But what if we went back in time and you had that same junky room to clean.

Instead of relentlessly organizing, compartmentalizing, and categorizing, you purged it.

What if you got rid of everything that wasn’t absolutely functionally necessary so that when you were done, all you had was your desk, chair, notebook, lamp, and one folder?

Which room do you think would be easier to keep clean? Which room would be easier to dust and vacuum? Which room would be easier to stay focused in? 

The room with less in it.

This is how we need to treat our lives as visionaries. Becoming clear about what you do and don’t need is the only way to make this outcome achievable for you. If you don’t become clear, you will always hang on to things that don’t help you build the life you desire.

Of course, you can’t always cut out everything in your life that doesn't align with your goals. And you don’t have to. 

But you do have to be intentional about where you invest your time and energy.

Turn off your TV and turn your life into a TV show to become the most productive and effective version of yourself. You won’t regret it.

Produce Your Own TV Show

Want all the prompts, formulas, and even a full template for structuring your life like a TV show?

Join Visionprenur School, my online community for aspiring transformational content creators who want to make an impact, have influence, and create income with their ideas, and insights for the glory of God.

I outline this concept and so much more for you. Plus, you'll be connected with like-minded visionaries who can support your TV show.

Visionprenuer School is the #1 online community for faith-based personal growth and business education.

Only VISIONARIES are allowed!

Join our community now for free.