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What Sort Of Book Is YOUR Life??

by Samantha Sutton on October 25, 2011

“I just can’t seem to stop beating myself up.”
“I tend to attract unavailable men.”
“My conversations with my sister inevitably go south, because she is such a jerk.”
“Will I give in to the temptation to cheat on my wife?”

If you listen to how we talk, we sometimes sound as if we are characters in a novel, whose plot includes irrational behavior, bizarre magnetism, crazy people and insurmountable urges.

If your life were a book, what type of book would your life be? Is it a:

•  Vampire novel. Full of irresistibly attractive people, who are nonetheless toxic.

•  Tragedy. No matter what you try or how good your intentions, things always go badly for you in the end.

•  Chick Lit novel. Characterized by an abundance of shallow drama, wildly vacillating feelings, and unscrupulous behavior.

• Fantasy. You are utterly out of touch with reality, but heck, the world you live in is pretty nice.

•  Mystery. Everyone seems to be acting from some hidden motive, and you can’t seem to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

•  Textbook. Boring, precise, safe and prudent, you always do the right thing, but it sure isn’t much fun.

•  Horror story. Your life proves that all those messed-up things you see on the news actually do happen to real people.

•  Anthology of Short Stories. You never could maintain focus on any one thing for too long.

•  Military history. Your life is one battle after another, with the strong and clever prevailing and the weak dying of gangrene in the trenches.

•  Inspirational book. You have it all figured out, and love to share that fact.

The good news is that we actually are the authors of our life-novels. Nobody else. If you don’t like your genre, you can author the next chapter differently.

How do you author a new genre? If you are surrounded by vampires, then ask yourself why you are choosing vampires. If your life is a boring textbook, then ask yourself what risks you are too scared to take. If you can’t quite figure out “whodunit,” then what conversations do you need to have, and with whom? For each genre, there is a behavior, belief or personality trait that is authoring that genre. So find it and make a change!

Which type of novel are you living? Do you want to be living that type of novel? Leave a comment and please have fun naming your type of book from the above list or tell us genres we didn’t yet think up.

Love,

Samantha

P.S.- I lead a weekend workshop where we figure out your deepest priorities in life: the Life Coaching Crash Course. Register using promo code: Daily100 to save $100. I promise, these two days will change your life. (Locations include: NY, Boston, DC, California).

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Dr. Samantha Sutton is a Senior Coach and Director of Courses and Seminars at The Handel Group™. Samantha designs and leads the Handel Group’s™ flagship workshop, the Life Coaching Crash Course. Samantha additionally coaches at universities such as Stanford and MIT. Prior to becoming a coach, Samantha received a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT, and then moved to the Handel Group™ to engineer people’s lives.

  • AM

    This was remarkably creative and interesting! Makes you take a look at your life and understand it a little better to make changes. Thank you.

  • Dana

    thank you – thinking about my novel write now

  • Michelle

    The novel I’ve written for myself and am therefore living is the “Horror/Trepidation” novel. I have what I’m learning is a debilitating fear of damn near everything under the sun. I’m currently employed but am scared to look for another job. After all – I rationalize to myself – the economy is in the tank, unemployment is 9.1% and there’s NO way an employer would seriously consider my resume; I don’t have many girlfriends to hang out with and would LIKE to get out and try new things, but women just don’t go out to bars and restaurants by themselves; there’s a guy I felt TREMENDOUS chemistry with last year and no one else in my entire 33 years of living has made me feel the connection I felt with him. He has literally affected me on a totally different level. My friend is trying her damnedest to get me talking to him again but I’m afraid because he’s probably already dating someone and after all…if he were TRULY interested in me he would’ve have kept contacting me last year. The list goes on and on. Sometimes I want to – and literally end up – curling myself into a ball and crying myself to sleep.

    I feel as though I’m writing the hardest novel to put down but I’m going to try. For starters, I’m going to update and send out my resume – even to companies that intimidate me. There are HIGHLY qualified people who have been unemployed for literally years and if they have the courage to keep sending their resumes with hopes of a callback, surely I can do the same. I’ve joined several online groups on meetup.com, and recently met with women in my city who also said they were looking to get out and make friends with other women. It was a wonderful evening and many of the women exchanged phone numbers. I plan to attend at least three events this week, all of them discovered through meetup.com. I also plan to put myself out there with any guy I meet, including “the” guy. After all, I’ve been rejected time and time again and I’m still standing. In hindsight, all of the guys who rejected me ended up not being the types of guys who were right for me. The rub of it all is that I won’t know who’s NOT right for me if I stay at home and play coy. After all, how can I improve my odds of winning the lottery if I don’t even buy a ticket?!?!?!

    Thank you, Samantha! You just gave me enough hope to face the rest of my day.

  • alicia

    my book used to be a combination of tragedy and chick lit novel, but now i’ve made it an inspiration :)

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