Each year, in early March, a little Alaskan town called Nome acts as the finish line for the world’s longest and most spectacular race—the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The race extends over 938 miles from Anchorage to Nome (more than the length of Texas), with the course record standing at seven days and fourteen hours, including two days of required rest for the dog teams. One of the most famous mushers (drivers) in the Iditarod’s history is Aliy Zirkle, who competed in twenty-one races but never won, despite coming close multiple times. Many people might see this as a failure or a disappointment, but Ali herself flipped the script and defined her own success, knowing that she was one of the most remarkable mushers in history and not buying into any negative narrative about her race record.

Flipping the script is something we can all do, and on today’s episode, McKay discusses how to do it and reap the rewards. First up, he discusses negative thoughts and the huge drain they put on our time and energy. He suggests that these thoughts can be flipped by spending time each day writing a new script that fills your mind with positive thoughts to sustain you through the day. This is an important skill both for ourselves and those around us, and McKay uses the example of how parents may be scripting anxiety into their kids to illustrate the impact that flipping the script to something more positive can have on our loved ones. Another script-flipping skill McKay advocates is the ability to look into the future and see things as our future self would see them. He uses the example of singer Donnie Osmond, whose career was judged to be over many times but who kept reinventing himself, repeatedly flipping the script on his career to create new opportunities for success. McKay closes the episode by discussing how to know when it’s the right time to flip our script and why it’s worth the effort to get a fresh perspective on our goals.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

• Alaska and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
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• Aliy Zirkle and her quest to win the Iditarod
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• Flipping the script and defining your own success
• Are we scripting anxiety into our kids?
• How Donnie Osmond flipped the script to let his talent shine

Quotes:

“The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is run early March of each year. And in that race, mushers and their dog teams travel from Anchorage in the south, across the state and up the coast to Nome in the north. In total, the race extends 938 miles. And that’s farther than the length of Texas.”

“Would it be nice to win? Yes. But she doesn’t buy into the script that others have written that she is not a real success. She is, in fact, one of the most remarkable mushers in history. And the same goes for you and me. We, like Aliy, can flip the script on whatever we’re attempting in life.”

“Flipping the script has more to do with filling your thoughts with your new script, which will put aside the negative thoughts we might typically have. And most experts in personal change will say that you need to write that script that will consume your thoughts each day, that the first fifteen to thirty minutes of each day is what will prime your thinking for the rest of the day. So I call this time each morning the Flip the Script Session.”

“As a father, I used to replay the script in my mind of how hard it was to raise kids. But now, as a grandfather, I have flipped the script. I would pay ten times $300,000 to have the joy and opportunity to do it again. I wish I could flip the time and go back and rescript myself while I was raising kids and have the perspective I do now. I would be a much happier, patient, and better father.”

“When you flip the script, the outcome may be the same, you might even fail. But when you flip the script, you’re giving yourself more opportunities for success. And perhaps the success is measured by just finishing the task or just enduring the heartbreak or not falling into old patterns or practicing something new and sticking to your goals of what’s important to you.”

Show Links:

Open Your Eyes with McKay Christensen