This could get messy.

So @Sarahrobinson tweets about her son’s super powers. Then my pals @LIPDesign and @DanaReeves get into the conversation, which ultimately leads me to the “distracted” tweet I shared a couple of days ago. The crux of the convo was that Sarah’s kid was using his special abilities, and she, as an adult, didn’t feel as though she had the same skills in her present evolution. I believe the hashtag she used was #themomomentsIfeeillequippedtobehismom.

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been there as adults. But it’s our own darn fault.

And it’s time things changed.

We walk around so consumed by “worldly” stuff – to borrow a biblical term. Bills, friends’ drama, family drama, our drama…

Drama drama drama! Save it for somebody else’s Momma!

I’m not saying we shouldn’t deal with that “stuff” that pops up in our lives. We definitely should. And we should ask for help when we can’t deal with it ourselves.

What I AM saying is that we use that drama as an excuse. A crutch. We let ourselves get “distracted” from our original dreams.

When we wore Wonder Woman Underoos, and knew we were invincible. When we tied Dad’s bathrobe around our neck and tried to jump off the garage roof. When we dared to believe in the stuff that really mattered: our dreams and the things we wanted to be about in the world.

When we were kids – like Joan of Arc – we were loyal to our dreams, our ambitions and the beliefs we held dear. Even in impoverished communities, little girls still dream of being princesses and living a life of “happily ever after”. Little boys still dream of “making big bucks” or “being a fireman” and “saving the world”.

To be frank, our world could use a little saving right now. Mostly from the so-called “grown ups”

So many of those would-be firefighters, teachers, doctors and princesses traded in their dreams for a 9-5 at the liquor store, not because they couldn’t do it. But because they didn’t see the patterns, and got distracted into a new pattern of “baby daddy momma drama” and wound up flipping burgers, or at the local stop-and-rob.

The simple fact is that for most of us that aren’t living out our happily-ever-after end game, there comes a point when you have to stop blaming everyone but yourself and decide: “Is this really the end game I want for myself?”

Maybe if we showed our daughters that in order to become a princess, they’ve got to have a smaller end game of meeting a prince (it does happen). Maybe if we encouraged our kids to save the world, we’d have a few more like Saint Joan.

And, perhaps along the way, they’d decide that it’s more fun to be president, or write books, or pursue a different dream.

Instead, they’re scrubbing the whole idea of having a dream in the first place.

Scratch that. They’re scrubbing the whole idea of LIVING their dream. They still cling to their dreams like Lola, the showgirl in Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana”: Bitter. Maybe even remorseful. Loaded down with regret and perhaps anger. Sitting there with faded feathers, remembering what could have been.

Is THAT really the end game you want for yourself? Are you still clinging to “hope” as a strategy for getting your happily ever after? Living with a lottery ticket mentality.

My husband says you can’t win if you don’t play the game.

My Mom said the answer’s always no if you don’t ask.

Joan said live what you believe.

I say ask, with hope, backed by a belief in what you’re end game is. That’s where we’ll pick up our super hero mantle again.

And with it, our dreams.

Since you’re still in the middle of my end game, you may be scratching your head yet, trying to piece all this together.

This is where Joan of Arc comes in. According to Wikipedia:

“Joan asserted that she had visions from God which instructed her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years’ War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII’s coronation at Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne.”

When people quote Joan, often it is “I am not afraid… I was born to do this.” But there are two other quotes that I offer today:

“One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.” (emphasis mine)

“Act, and God will act”

Regardless of your religious persuasion (or lack thereof), you have to credit Joan with an incredibly powerful belief. She knew her end game. She even predicted her own injury on the battlefield.

She knew what she had come here for and to her dying breath, she did it without compromise.

Are you living your belief? In your life, your work, your coming and going, your “rising and resting” as some scriptures would say.

Do you even know what you believe?

Here’s a girl that’s been praying hard for years and finally her end game becomes clear. She figures out the steps in the cycle and makes her move. She achieves her end game.

It’s the same pattern you see in powerful leaders throughout history. The details  may be more personal, but the patterns are undeniable. I’ve remarked on more than one occasion about the similarities between the rise of Hitler and one of our more recent presidents. Both were charismatic speakers. Both wrote books about their life that outlined how they’d “change the world”. Both rose to power with a grassroots level of enthusiasm.

Patterns. Cycles.

More recently, you might have heard it called “modeling.” The idea that if you want to be a millionaire, find someone else that has done it, learn from them and model them.

The problem with modeling is that you are NOT them. Your set of beliefs, your core values are probably not the same. Modeling their successes may also mean modeling their failures. Or WORSE.

But finding the patterns… now that’s something that can benefit you. If you want to be a millionaire, don’t just look for one person that’s done it. Look at many people who have done it. What are the commonalities? Where are the patterns, similarities?

Take notes. Lots of them. Then find those commonalities in YOUR life and work.

Then ACT. Take action. Move the ball down the field and see what happens next. See the end game and move relentlessly towards it. If it’s your life’s end game, as it was for Joan, you’ve got to be willing to die for it.

What are you willing to die for?

Are you living that belief?

Photo Courtesy The Weinstein Company

His is a tale of reluctant heroism at it’s finest. Here’s a guy, born into nobility, yet he’s mocked, abused, and never given his due. He comes to not only believe the hype, but also produces a physical manifestation of his “worthlessness” by way of a stammer he developed as a toddler.

He has no faith in himself, and keeps praying beyond all reason that his brother David will see the light and let go of his “fantasy” relationship with this bad influence. But David has already accepted his call to live his own life. Albert must now become King.

Enter Lionel.

A man with no credentials, save the results he’s produced for a countless number of people with “speech defects”. No alphabet soup, no royal appellation, and in fact, regarded as unworthy to serve the King once his lack of official credentials is uncovered by the “royal attendants”.

As I watched the movie, I marveled at how two men from two very opposite ends of the social spectrum should ever come together.

And then the answer came: Faith.

A wife, determined to help her husband be the best he could be, simply would not rest until she found the solution to his “problem” – even against his wishes. Money was no obstacle, so why could Albert not over come this defect? She had faith that, somewhere, there was still one more stone to overturn. She found it in Lionel.

A teacher, determined to break down the walls built by a young man to protect himself from harm, simply would not acquiesce when told that this man was of noble birth. “My house, my rules.” was Lionel’s retort. His supreme faith in his own abilities left few in a position to debate the King’s choice to have him by his side for nearly every public address His Royal Highness ever made.

A king, forced into a corner, yet understanding his pivotal role in the “life” of his country, ultimately had faith in his own voice – a voice that would  assuage the fears of a restless nation as Hitler blazed a trail closer to their shore.

A country, longing for a protector, desperate for direction and unable to take heart in themselves, hoped for the best when their newly crowned king and well-known stammerer took to the wireless for his first-ever wartime address.

I was struck by the notion that being born into royalty doesn’t automatically make you a great man. And being a great man without a royal appellation doesn’t make you any less noble. When you aspire to greatness in your work, you will catch the eye of kings.

Scripture tells us that a job well done is rewarded richly:

“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings”

It matters not your station. It matters not your situation. All that matters is your focus, your conviction, and your willingness to do what’s right, whether or not you get credit for it. Lionel could have easily slipped into obscurity as an “unqualified” humiliation, at the behest of the court, but his skill and persistence won over a doubftul King and a desperate Queen.

And ultimately, an entire nation would have him to thank for the voice of their “fearless” leader.

But in the annals of history, who gets the credit for the impressive speeches? Certainly not Lionel. It was the king that spoke those words into being.

Yet, it was Lionel that spoke The King’s Speech into being.

According to the film, Lionel earned high distinction for his service to the Monarchy. Not bad for an uncredentialed, yet highly skilled “speech defect” coach.

You are where you need to be right now, doing what you need to do right now. Your credentials (if you have them) are meaningless. It’s your results that people care most about. So stop worrying about what you don’t have, focus on being excellent with what you DO have.

The rest will come in time.