In my book 9 Things You Simply Must Do, I talk about patterns of behaving that I've observed in highly successful people. I wrote 9 Things after watching leaders for a lot of years and seeing that there were practices good leaders all seemed to have in common. About ten or twelve years ago, I decided that each time I witnessed one of these practices, I would write it down, and see which ones seemed to surface over and over. The "9" were the ones that surfaced most frequently during those years of watching, and the ones I thought most of us could benefit from.

One of these is the principle I call "Play the Movie." Simply stated, this principle says that successful people, in making choices and deciding what to do, look at more than just the immediate results of that choice or behavior. Instead, they look at that choice and play it way, way forward to its end result. To them, that choice is a scene in a longer movie, so they look to see if the current scene leads them to an ending they like. If they don't like the way the plot goes as a result of what they are doing, then they rewrite that scene and do something different to end up where they want to go.

I use the illustration of a woman who really wanted to be a lawyer, and when I asked her why she had not pursued it, told me that it would "take too long" ("too long" being the three years that getting her degree would require). I asked her if she planned to be around in three years, for she made it sound like the three years were optional, almost as though if she did not go to law school, she wouldn't have to "do those years." I told her that she was going to be around in three years, and the real question was not that three years was "too long"--since they were going to happen anyway--the real question was, when she played the movie forward to three years from now, did she like the scene of her waking up to go to her current unfulfilling job for the next thirty years? Or would she rather be walking down the aisle to get her degree and anticipating thirty years of practicing law--her passion?

I find that successful leaders live almost each moment with the end in mind, and as a result stay remarkably on track and on purpose. It seems simple, but the truth is that a lot of less successful people do not think this way. For example, they may take on a project, thinking it "won't take too much time" (or energy, or resources). They do not play the movie forward and ask themselves, "But if I do this, what effect will it have on the amount of time I have available for what I really care about?" They fail to ask, "If we take on this project, where does that lead us in terms of increasing our numbers by ten percent, as we agreed to do?" If they would only play that decision forward a year, they might discover they don't like the plot that they see. And if so, they should rethink their decision.

The reality is that most of us "live in the moment," and do not see the end result of the day-to-day choices that we are making or not making. And then, as time goes on (because time will go on--as I told the woman, that is not optional), we unwittingly write the movie that we are writing with each little scene. Successful leaders do not think this way. They are going somewhere and they realize it. They make sure that the things they do in any given day--even the little things, like whether or not they take a phone call--are taking them to the plot ending that they desire. Here are some examples you might be able to relate to:

• They look at continuing to spend that two hours a week in a certain meeting, and compare the fruit of that to what that two hours would do for them in their most important initiative. They compare where they would be if they made the change versus if they didn't, instead of numbing themselves with the thought, "Oh, it's just a couple of hours."
   
• They have one more interaction with that person who is not performing, and they "play the movie." They look ahead and see another year of having that person in that position and they ask themselves if they like the way the movie looks one year from now. It makes them sick to their stomach, and it motivates them to make a move.
   
• They have one more interaction with that person who is worse than not performing--he or she has a character issue that is not being addressed. They play the movie and look at dealing with the effects of that character problem for the next year or two and the results that would produce. Again, they see what avoiding the problem one more day is going to look like a year from now.
   
• They stop telling themselves that they are going to "get in shape," or "take better care of their personal lives," or "spend time with their family." Instead, they look at the current way in which they are going about their activities (the reality), and play that movie forward. They see that the current scene--of telling themselves that they are going to do something different but not doing it--is just going to produce more of the same result: they will go on being overweight, or out of shape, or disconnected from the spouse or kids, if they continue to do the same thing expecting different results. They see where their current practice is taking them--they realize where this movie is headed--so they come out of denial and make the real changes that keep them out of ultimately having to deal with a kid on drugs or with a spouse who finally says "enough" a year or two down the road.

It is so easy for us to continue to live in the moment and numb ourselves to where it is actually taking us. This can be true of a leader, or of an organization. Often we know what is wrong, but tell ourselves that we will change things soon--we just don't have time to do it today. The reality is that the choice to delay becomes a scene that repeats itself over and over. Here is what successful leaders do: they take a hard look at every decision and play each one forward, following its effects through the rest of the day, the rest of the week, the rest of the year, and the rest of life. If that scene does not belong in the plot of the movie they are writing, then it gets written out. Join the ones who do well, and in the same way they do, take a look at what you do every day, and you might like the ending of your own movie a lot better.

Best,
Henry Cloud, PhD

The heart of the discerning aquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out. (Proverbs 18:15, NIV)