We all have a Super Objective.

Super Objective is our emotional life purpose.  It’s also an acting term that describes a character’s ultimate goal, desire or dream.  It’s  the reason behind why we make bold moves (or not); why we choose a particular lifestyle, or relationship or profession; why some of us will do anything to get ahead and why some of us won’t.  The legendary actor and teacher, Konstantin Stanislavsky, defined Super Objective as the spine of an actor’s performance. To his point, I would add it’s the emotional instinct we humans are always looking to achieve.

Why knowing your Super Objective matters.

I spent a long time trying to understand why I chose to move after I got divorced.  I asked myself over and over why would I willingly uproot my family and go to a place where we didn’t know anybody?  The move was hard in many ways, I couldn’t imagine what would drive me to do such a thing.  What was behind it was my Super Objective.  And once I could sort out what that was, I knew I would find the answer to why I had been making certain kinds of decisions my entire life.  Talk about epic!

Once you’ve specified your own Super Objective you will have clarity.  Knowing this will open you up to a multitude of choices that weren’t available to your before.  You can then feed your Super Objective in healthy and positive ways or you can decide to change your Super Objective altogether! (we’ll get to that).

How to find your Super Objective.

To determine YOUR Super Objective you’ve got to dig deep, just like an onion, you’re going to peel back layer upon layer until you get to the core, the heart of what drives you.  It might be to have control, to be loved, to be needed, to have freedom, to be admired, to provide …. it is always going to be something you want (not something you don’t want).

Here are 3 things that will help:

Watch movies.

As in life, characters like people have many objectives both short and long-term, but they only have one main objective i.e. super objective.  Take Iris (Kate Winslet) in The Holiday. Why did she swap houses with Amanda (Cameron Diaz)?  Is it because she wanted a getaway?  Perhaps she didn’t want to be alone over the holidays or maybe she needed to mend her broken heart.  While all of these may be true, none of them could be categorized as Iris’ Super Objective.  In fact, Iris’ Super Objective is one thing and one thing only: to find true love.

Watching movies with your mind set on determining what’s driving a character in a film to do what he does is a helpful exercise (NOTE: Super Objective is not that same as motivation).  These 5 movies do a great job of revealing lead characters Super Objective:  Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, It’s Complicated, A Few Good Men, and The Breakfast Club.

Peel that onion!

Discovering your Super Objective is like peeling an onion, you’ve got to get through a lot of layers to get to the center. You might think your super objective is to be needed when it’s really to have power. Take your time.

Ask friends.

If they’re honest, good friends can offer valuable insight.  In fact, they might be able to tell you what your Super Objective is in under 30 seconds!

As I explain in my ACTING AS IF Workshops, Acting As If is about combining storytelling & acting techniques to help us merge our thoughts and actions to become (or achieve) something that is not currently in our experience.  Knowing your Super Objective is a critical part of this personal growth method.

Can you change your Super Objective?

I could debate that… but let me simply say that once you know your Super Objective you will be able to better understand how it has been affecting your life.  You may decide it’s time to rewrite your personal narrative.  If that’s true, you will probably require a different Super Objective i.e. emotional purpose or at least go about fulfilling your desire “to be the center of attention” in a healthier way.

You can have any kind of life you want.

Identifying your Super Objective helps you get to know the real you.  The more you know who you are, the more opportunities you have to change and when you change you give yourself more options.  

Check out this week’s Acting As If TV episode for more on Super Objective and why it matters. Then let me know if you’ve been able to determine what yours is and if identifying it has helped.

Let me know – leave a comment.

All the best to you always,

Linda