Happy (belated) Groundhog Day ⏰ How to wake up 🛌 and get unstuck ➡️
We watched Groundhog Day as part of our annual observance. I assume you’ve seen it. The classic 90s comedy that shows Bill Murray’s egocentric weatherman caught in a time loop, forcing him to relive the most irritating day on his professional calendar. It also offers a surprisingly deep commentary on the nature of human life.
It’s an existential thought-experiment of a film, which finds its place alongside other examples like The Matrix and The Truman Show, each of which find possibility in the human spirit by changing the shape of reality.
What if, as in The Matrix, we could see the code out of which reality is composed and therefore manipulate it at our pleasure? Well, what if we can?
What if, as in Groundhog Day, we could steadily refine our behaviors to conform more and more closely to the exemplar of our ideal state? Well, what if we can?
What I find fascinating is that these existential thought-experiment films always show the hero journeying from alienation, despair, discouragement, and confinement to ownership, freedom, power, and possibility. Always. In Groundhog Day the confinement is particularly severe as even suicide does not provide a means of escape, a premise to which the film devotes a major section. And so it’s not really about the strange quirk of breaking out of the matrix or being caught in a time loop. It’s about real life. Because as we grow we take a similar journey from alienation, despair, discouragement, and confinement to ownership, freedom, power, and possibility. If we see the code. If we find the right routines to build our visions. That’s what these films teach us.
If you want to appreciate this film even more, find a little time to watch this making of documentary so you can hear unassuming director Harold Ramis and peerlessly ubiquitous character actor Stephen Tobolowsky explain Groundhog Day’s philosophy of personal virtue.
Here’s a few quotes from that that stand out to me:
“In the original script he…lived the day thousands of years. He goes from being a prisoner of that time and place to a master of that time and place.”
“When he stops worrying about himself all the time and starts living a life of service to others, then his life gets very full and rich indeed, when he embraces where he is and what he can do.”
“She won’t put up with anything. As soon as he falls off the turnip truck with some line of bull, he’s outta there. Slap in the face, slap in the face, slap-slap-slap-slap, because he’s not living up to the standards of excellence.”
“The greatest gift for him is becoming finite again. He’s gonna die, he’s gonna age. Time is gonna go on. But now he has the keys to use his time well. And to begin that journey of time, he wakes up and he’s with his beloved.”
“You can live better, you can have a better life. You can change. And when you do change you do get those rewards that you think you want out of life.”
How about you?
Do you feel like you’re trapped in the Matrix and you want to learn to see the code?
Do you feel like you’re trapped in an unsatisfactorily repeating Groundhog Day and you want to develop the personal disciplines to enter a finite life of growth and meaning again where things change and improve?
You, my friend, are in luck. Because in my Level Up ⬆️ Your Life workshop the week of February 19th we’re going to teach you all of that. We’re going to learn to see the code of the matrix so you can break out of it. And we’re going to show you how to improve just a little bit each day so you can finally break out of your repeating cycle and wake up with your beloved.
It’s totally free and virtual so you can Zoom in from anywhere in the world, meet some cool new people, and get inspired to level up your life, just like Phil Connors in Punxsutawney, PA!
Haven’t registered yet? Join the other motivated entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals who have. There’s still time. Your future self with thank you!