Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about a strategy you can use when
Speaker 1: you're facing disappointment. Don't get me wrong, disappointment always stings,
Speaker 1: but this is one exercise that can give you a
Speaker 1: lot more perspective about it. I recently heard a speech
Speaker 1: on this topic from novelist Camille Pagan. She was talking
Speaker 1: about her career, which from the outside appears to be charmed.
Speaker 1: She writes a novel a year, most recently one called
Speaker 1: I'm Fine and Neither Are You. Her novels are almost
Speaker 1: always at the top of Amazon's charts for women's contemporary fiction.
Speaker 1: She has been optioned by major film companies. Definitely good
Speaker 1: stuff for a writer. So when she said in her
Speaker 1: speech that she wanted to talk about persistence and then
Speaker 1: mentioned that her first novel, The Art of Forgetting, sold
Speaker 1: for six figures at auction, I wondered where she was
Speaker 1: going with this. This sounded more like a story of
Speaker 1: constant success, not persistence, and maybe not too helpful for
Speaker 1: the rest of us. But then, after telling us about
Speaker 1: the six figure book deal, she shared this that first novel,
Speaker 1: she said, sold a grand total of a hundred and
Speaker 1: three copies. It turns out that what happened is that
Speaker 1: she released this novel with big hopes, but she knew
Speaker 1: little about promoting books, and various other things went wrong too.
Speaker 1: With the publisher investing so much money in this book
Speaker 1: and with so little to show for it, she was
Speaker 1: going to have a very hard time getting anyone in
Speaker 1: the publishing industry to take a chance on her again.
Speaker 1: She tried. She wrote a novel and then decided it
Speaker 1: wasn't any good, so she trashed it. She wrote another novel,
Speaker 1: it also wasn't going to work. Finally, many years after
Speaker 1: that first novel, she had an idea for a book
Speaker 1: that was called Life and Other Near Death Experiences. Her
Speaker 1: agents sold it to a different publisher for a much
Speaker 1: much smaller advance than that first book, but something clicked.
Speaker 1: It's sold like crazy. Her new publisher wanted more work
Speaker 1: for her, and she is now a happily productive career novelist.
Speaker 1: I asked Camille how she'd been able to keep herself
Speaker 1: going through those years where she looked like she was
Speaker 1: going to be a one hit wonder. She said that
Speaker 1: she wrote five year plans, and she had a very
Speaker 1: clear vision for her future. She always knew she was
Speaker 1: going to be a successful novelist. What was happening now
Speaker 1: was part of the story, but it was only part
Speaker 1: of the story. It wasn't the ending. It was just
Speaker 1: that low moment for the hero that any good novel
Speaker 1: has to have, because otherwise the novel is boring. I
Speaker 1: love this idea of having such a clear picture of
Speaker 1: the stories later chapters that you can see that the
Speaker 1: current one is only a plot twist on the way there. Indeed,
Speaker 1: Camille and I later talked about how it might be
Speaker 1: helpful for other people to try doing this exercise by
Speaker 1: picturing themselves doing exactly what she was doing when I
Speaker 1: heard her. She was up on stage giving a speech
Speaker 1: about her life. She told the story of the setback,
Speaker 1: but it was just a part of the story that
Speaker 1: had a happy ending. So if you're facing some disappointment,
Speaker 1: either professionally or personally, try to picture yourself several years
Speaker 1: in the future. Picture yourself telling an audience your story.
Speaker 1: Explain how this low moment was part of the journey.
Speaker 1: Maybe you got laid off from your job, and your
Speaker 1: future story you could explain that this stung, of course,
Speaker 1: But while you were looking for something else, you began
Speaker 1: consulting for a friend's small business on the side, and
Speaker 1: then to gather you were able to make it so
Speaker 1: big that you're now hiring tons of people, including some
Speaker 1: of your favorite colleagues from your old company. Or maybe
Speaker 1: you're going through a painful break up, but you could
Speaker 1: picture yourself at your future wedding telling the assembled guests
Speaker 1: about how, because things ended so suddenly, you were finally
Speaker 1: amenable when your aunt offered to set you up with
Speaker 1: one of the members of her running club, you had
Speaker 1: an open mind. Good thing, because here the two of
Speaker 1: you are exchanging your vows. I'm not saying any of
Speaker 1: this will come true, of course, but probably something good
Speaker 1: will happen in your future. By recasting this current moment
Speaker 1: as just a twist in a larger narrative, you can
Speaker 1: make yourself more resilient. You can open your mind to
Speaker 1: possibilities and open your heart to see what's next. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast past at iHeartMedia dot
Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
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