It’s become as much a part of the holiday season as eggnog and mistletoe, the annual 24-hour TV marathon of A Christmas Story. This is the 27th year the film will run continuously on cable, set to air on TBS and TNT from Sunday, Dec. 24 at 8pm ET to Monday, Dec. 25 at 8pm ET.
Earlier this month we wrapped up our special 10-part summer series, CRUCIBLE HACKS. Over its nine episodes we offered listeners “hacks” to help them identify the building blocks of their lives of significance. Then, in the tenth and final episode, we helped them get the most out of the hacks we discussed so they could get themselves on, and keep themselves on, the path to their own unique life of significance.
Those are big numbers. Meaningful numbers. But not unanimous numbers. They raise the very real possibility that at least a few of you reading these words might be among that 28 percent who would answer “no” to the survey question mentioned above. Which makes me think, in our mission to share with those who engage with us that their worst day doesn’t have to define them, how can you know if you’ve had a crucible? Three thoughts come to mind…
We have even commissioned a statistically valid study that tells us that 72 percent of more than 11,000 people surveyed so far say they have “experienced an event so traumatic or painful that it fundamentally altered the course” of their lives.
Those are big numbers. Meaningful numbers. But not unanimous numbers. They raise the very real possibility that at least a few of you reading these words might be among that 28 percent who would answer “no” to the survey question mentioned above. Which makes me think, in our mission to share with those who engage with us that their worst day doesn’t have to define them, how can you know if you’ve had a crucible? Three thoughts come to mind…
We are in the midst of our special summer podcast series, Crucible Hacks, in which we’re taking nine weeks to unpack ways to make bouncing back from a crucible simpler (there’s a 10th episode that’s not about hacks but about giving you insight into how to apply the hacks). We’re spotlighting the best practices listeners can undertake at each step of the journey from tragedy to triumph, guiding them along the path of what we call the Beyond the Crucible Refining Process.
It’s astounding, sometimes, how a guest whose worst day was suffering through abuse or addiction or being hit with a devastating physical injury or medical diagnosis uses the exact same language Warwick does to describe how it felt to be at the bottom of the pit… and needed to muster the same resilience to get out of that pit. In broad brushstrokes, we’ve discovered that these crucible experiences fall into five categories and have three critical lessons…
We’ve just finished a series on our Beyond the Crucible podcast called BURN THE SHIPS. We interviewed seven guests from wildly diverse backgrounds who had one critical thing in common: They made bold, dramatic pivots in their lives, leaving one direction behind to pursue something that to them is more fulfilling/daring. If you’re thinking about burning your ships too, here are 5 truths to make for smoother sailing.
We’ve shifted from Crucible Leadership. And that opens up some very exciting opportunities for the future. The new name does not mean we have a new vision or mission. It means our vision and mission have been refined. We’re still all about hope and healing, helping you realize your worst days don’t have to define you; still committed to joining you on the journey from setback to significance, still dedicated to setting you on and helping you along the path that leads from trials to triumph.
Of course, “Bah, humbug!” is not the end of Scrooge’s story… In fact, here at Beyond the Crucible, he could be the poster character for, as we often say, not letting your worst day define you, for moving beyond setback and failure. Especially this year, in fact, one in which we’ve spent a good deal of time exploring how to discover your second-act significance, there may be no better character who comes around every Christmas to study as a means of learning how we each can move from “Is this all there is?” to “This is all I’ve ever wanted.”
We are in the middle of a special summer podcast series at BEYOND THE CRUCIBLE we’re calling Lights, Cameras, Crucibles: What Our Favorite Movie Heroes Can Teach Us About Overcoming Setbacks and Failure. But as an article a few years ago in Psychology Today pointed out, there are surprising ways fictional heroes improve our lives. And in addition to unpacking the lessons these characters can teach us about moving beyond setbacks and failures, we also wanted to offer the truths discussed in that article.
While there are a lot of things we can tell you about the course – like it’s three one-hour long video modules, over a dozen downloadable worksheets, and insightful clips from our nine-part podcast series on Second-Act Significance that ran all of April and May – frankly, this blog is more than an advertisement.
