Navigating Challenges on a Hero’s Journey

Timeless Insights for Modern-Day Changemakers and Mission-Driven Leaders

For those trying to do some good in our mixed-up world, there is a great deal that can be learned from seeing our lives in terms of what the late mythologist Joseph Campbell popularized as the “hero’s journey.”

First, the hero’s journey offers a sense of predictability in an age that otherwise seems to have cast predictability aside.

Second, envisioning oneself as a hero—if only in terms of the lead character in one’s own life or, in the words of Stanford Professor Philip Zimbardo, as an “ordinary hero”—is helpful. Research shows that adopting a heroic identity can lead to a greater sense of resilience and purpose.

Third, having a framework that lends insights into how others, fictional or not, have navigated tests, tasks, and challenges — or what Campbell referred to as “the road of trial” — can be reassuring and instructive.

The Journey Distilled

The framework identifies a series of stages in any heroic journey—17 to be exact. Screenwriter Christopher Volger simplified this to 12 stages in The Writer’s Journey. More simply still, Campbell distilled the entire journey into three big phases: departure, initiation, and return.

In brief:

• During the departure phase, the hero leaves the ordinary world to respond to a calling or embark upon a quest.

• During the initiation phase, the hero is tested— met by various challenges and enemies.

• During the return phase, the hero brings important lessons learned during the quest back to the ordinary world from which he or she originally departed.

The Real-World Rub

Now, here’s the rub. There are critical differences between the telling of fictional stories and the living of real ones. And perhaps the most vexing difference is that fictional stories can have neat beginnings, middles, and ends — all reduced to two hours’ telling, no less!

In real life, we don’t have the luxury of knowing the end. And, as the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

What does this mean for people doing critical work on behalf of the environment, education, human rights, social justice, or any other mission- or purpose-driven cause? Or those simply trying to be a good influence in their families or communities?

Because of the grand scope and complexity of today’s challenges, it means we may never know how our efforts ultimately will turn out. As Rebecca Solnit has observed, we can never know what the “unseen ripples” of our influence will be.

As a result, it is important to define success broadly—for example, stop greenhouse gas emissions—but also narrowly in terms of what would allow us to know we did our best.

It also means it is important to focus on what can be learned from the middle “initiation” phase, where the hero is tested by challenges and tests.

This may sound obvious—even maddeningly so during this time of many urgent challenges. But diving into the hero’s journey can bring something valuable indeed for leaders and teams fighting the good fight: namely, perspective.

And like a first responder trained to walk instead of running to an emergency, what we do to keep perspective in stressful times can make a vital difference in what happens next.

Please visit my website to learn more about my coaching and workshops. Or schedule a time to chat. I am currently offering four free coaching sessions to one client working in a mission- or purpose-driven field.