Author urges readers to star in their own story

FALLS VILLAGE — Heather Campbell, author of “Good is Amazing: Stop Overstriving and Celebrate Being Enough!” came to the Hunt Library Thursday, Oct. 9, to explain why striving to be “great” often backfires on the striver.

Campbell chatted with the audience while she took copies of the book out of a suitcase and arranged them on a table.

This proved a successful strategy as she sold a couple of copies before the talk even began.

“Life isn’t linear,” she said when things got started. “We’re conditioned to strive towards greatness.”

But “greatness” is defined by someone or something else. Campbell advised believing that “you are the main character in your life” and defining “greatness” for yourself.

She recalled her time working at ESPN when everyone in management was reading a management book, “Good to Great,” by James Collins.

She said she “froze up” on the title and never got any further.

She asked herself, “What if I don’t want to be great?”

At this point Campbell introduced Blanche, her “imaginary three-packs-a-day critic.”

Campbell said most people have a built-in Blanche, a mechanism that causes self-doubt and second guessing.

“There are always going to be hiccups” in life, she continued. “In those moments you’ll hear from Blanche.”

She said it is important to realize when the inner critic is at work, and to treat the doubts accordingly.

In other words, to know when to tell Blanche to shut up.

“You get to decide” what greatness means, she said.