How To Journey Like A Hero For Fun and Profit

(Note: This article was originally published to JamieMcSloy.co.uk on March 12th, 2019. I’m going through an old backup of the site, which has hundreds of posts that aren’t currently uploaded. As I’m working hard on updating the site – and releasing The Vault, letting these old posts be the daily posts for a while.)

How To Journey Like A Hero For Fun and Profit

There’s probably something wrong with you. That’s the bad news.

There are definitely numerous things wrong with me. One of the predominant ones is that last week, fellow scallywag James “Scotty” Holt sent a well-meaning message that made me think, “What the hell am I doing with my life?”

And a second problem that regular readers will be aware of is that I’ve had some tip-of-my-tongue sensation for a couple of months now about something to do with the Hero’s Journey and tying it into all the other stuff I have cooking.

I’m going to marry those two things and give you all a cool mesh of all the things I talk about; autonomy, making money and that horrid term; personal development.

There’s probably something wrong with you, and you can make it profitable.

The Hero’s Journey… And Your Issues

I tweeted earlier on about the Call to Adventure.

It’s a key underpinning of the Hero’s Journey, and thus a key underpinning – inadvertently – of most of our understanding of human psychology.

(The above is quite a claim. Bear in mind though, Jung is a thought-leader in terms of modern psychology. I’ve been learning more about him recently to try and shake loose some of the coconuts from this theoretical tree, and wonder how he became a leader of psychology. Guy was a wacky, occultist, visioinary madman. Still… Jung, from whom the Hero archetype psychology stuff is derived, is part of the overall framework of 21^st Century psychology. Detour over.)

Most people never answer the call to adventure.

The call to adventure is the bit where the hero learns of the wider world.

In Harry Potter, it’s when Harry is confronted first with the letter-dropping owls, then Hagrid turning up to tell him he’s a wizard.

In Star Wars, it’s when it turns out crazy old hermit man is actually a galaxy-faring super knight who says, by the way, you have superpowers, here’s a laser sword and you have to go and avenge your father.

Most would say, “But we’re in real life… there is no adventure.”

And life is a series of self-transformation adventures in waiting. It’s just that you aren’t heeding the call.

So, how do we heed the call in an entirely realistic way?

The Humble Thirty Day Challenge

Most online advice in this sort-of field involves stupid things that 99% of people simply aren’t going to do.

Like quit their jobs, move to some third world country with nothing but hopes, dreams and $2000 in savings, and hope they’re going to make it big with the whole internet bucks thing.

Or quit their jobs, video game addiction and suspicious internet browsing activities in favour of approaching fifty women a day until they’re a master player.

Now… if that’s you and you’re dedicated to that sort of thing, don’t let me stop you.

But for most people, there’s a better challenge; a humble thirty day challenge.

There’s probably something wrong with you: Something you could change within a month. You can probably fix that problem and you probably have all the tools to do so. After all, we’re talking a thirty day challenge here, and not a lifetime of discovery.

So out of the window goes, “Get JACKED LIKE CONAN THE BARBARIAN IN 30 DAYS” as a challenge. But “30 Days to No Dining Out” is absolutely in.

And that’s a solution that everyone who has the same problem as you do wants to achieve.

Marrying Those Things

There’s a lot more to this in my mind. It’ll possibly go in the next Direct Response Newsletter, because it ties in nicely with a wider goal of creating a residual income business through publishing, and the more I think about it, the more I can tie it in and create a demonstrable case study.

Needless to say though; the above follows all the benchmarks of the sort of business I’ve been building, and that I’d recommend anyone can build:

• Take something you want to do
• Find audiences, mentors and communities that have your problem, have solved your problem, and so on
• Solve the problem by standing on the shoulders of giants and adding your own modifications
• Write about the journey
• Sell the journey by giving back what you’ve learned and letting other people stand on your shoulders

And then repeat the process with the next stage of life.