Your life has a highlight reel (you forgot to watch it) | 3-minute read

Hey Superstar

Happy Sunday, today I’m walking you through a simple idea that can change your happiness:

Build your highlight reel

Last week, my daughter scored her first-ever hockey goal

For three years, she’s been learning to play hockey.

Before that, during COVID, my wife and I took the kids to outdoor rinks to breathe fresh air.

When the puck crossed the line, she didn’t throw her hands up or scream. She just froze.

“My jaw dropped and my eyes opened wide,” she told us later.

I usually film a few shifts. I want the highlight moments. But my phone was in my pocket for this one. (Thankfully, another dad got it and sent us the clip.)

That night, for no real reason, I scrolled back through old videos — her early wobbly strides, the oversized snow suit, the massive grin on every chilly shift.

And it all added up to this moment of joy – her first goal.

Your life has a montage, too.

In movies, when the protagonist, our story’s hero, “answers the call,” we suddenly find ourselves in a musical montage of training, failing, getting back up again:

• The weak become strong (e.g. Rocky - Gonna Fly Now, Eye of the Tiger, etc.)

• The scared become fearless (Batman Begins - Ra’s al Ghul Training)

• The dumb are smart (e.g., Limitless: Brain Upgrade).

We sit on our comfy couches, devour popcorn, and then wonder why our personal traumas (e.g., serious illness, losing a loved one, getting laid off) haven’t resolved yet, and we begin to question ourselves.

We may be in the 6-month training period, though. Unfortunately, it’s going to take longer than 2-3 minutes to resolve.

Real life is slower. It’s messier. It’s more…human.

And once they do, according to research, these positive events can lead to post-traumatic growth (e.g. energy, self-esteem, gratitude).

“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson or as Justin eloquently put it in his run from Montreal to Toronto or even Jon in Hike Up Your Happiness.

When my daughter scored, we were thrilled.

But the absolute joy came from remembering everything it took to get there: cold mornings, tiny laces, tears, the falls and the courage to get back up.

That’s her highlight reel. And you have one, too. It’s in your camera roll, taking up storage. It’s in your memories and those closest to you.

Watch it, feel it, celebrate you.

Pebble: Lily’s highlight reel

I put together Lily’s highlight reel to show you what I mean.

Challenge: The Positive Method

Dan Cable is a professor at the London Business School, 3-book author, Ted X speaker, writer for the New York Times, Harvard Business Journal and has worked with a high-tech start-ups to the World Economic Forum.

He created a process for achieving personal growth through positive trauma, called the positive method, which builds on a well-established technique called the “Reflected Best-Self Exercise.”

You create a personal highlight reel by giving gratitude, inviting others to share stories of you at your best, reading those reflections in one emotional sitting, and then building new habits that align with your strongest, most exceptional qualities.

Take the challenge. Download the PDF workbook we made for you.