LIVE A CHARACTER DRIVEN LIFE

 Understanding your “Core Motivator” is of utmost importance because it is where we begin to plot the vision for our lives; it is where we begin to define the “play of life.”

Let me give an illustration of what I am talking about when I speak of the “play of life.” I live near Toronto - a city that is third in the world for live theater (behind New York and London). In a recent review of a current show, the reviewer stated that there are basically two different types of productions: those that are plot-driven and those that are character-driven. In a plot-driven show, the plot is the most important element. This would be typical of a murder mystery or suspense thriller type of show. An Agatha Christie play is captivating because we are interested in finding out who the killer was, or how the murder was accomplished. The characters can be thinly drawn because they exist only to sustain and carry the plot. In the end, we don’t care about the depth of the characters; we are only interested in which one of them committed the crime.

In a character-driven show, however, the plot is of less importance than the characters. The plot exists to showcase the depth of the characters and their development through the telling of the story. In a play such as “Death of a Salesman,” or a movie such as “Good Will Hunting,” you are not concerned with the plot. Your focus is not on how much Willie sells, or what kind of job Matt Damon gets. Rather, these dramas focus on the development of the characters over time. We are drawn into the character’s life, and we sense the struggles, pain, victory and defeat that define to a greater depth the character we’ve come to care about. We even see some of ourselves in the character and identify with them, and we are drawn to look at our own lives more closely and explore some of our own depth.

In our culture, we have lived essentially plot-driven lives. The plot has been written, and we play our parts to make the story complete. We get an education, obtain a good job, get married, buy a house, have kids, buy a bigger house, move up the corporate and social ladders, retire, see our children enter into the “play,” and have grandchildren. At some point, we die. That is the plot-driven life, and we are actors on the stage, merely playing our roles to fulfill the plot.

What would our lives look like if we lived “character-driven” lives? In a character-driven life, our story would begin with the character – you, the person - not the plot. We look at the person God has created - the characters we are - and develop our lives based on that character. The character is everything in this play, and we must focus on the development of the character to make the play, our life, worth living. In this way, each of our lives will be different and vital because our lives will be based on the uniqueness of who God made each of us to be. The main character in the play of your life is you.

But most of us have never stopped long enough to look inside ourselves and ask the question, “Who am I?” Who is this person that God has created with unique talents, gifts and motivations? What exists at the very core of who I am that motivates me to do all that I do in my life? When God created me, who did He create? Who am I, and why am I unique? Who is the character that is “me?”