“Nothing I planned happened. But whenever opportunity arose, I was prepared and positive. All those things I didn’t get, all those ‘almosts’ – if I got them, I wouldn’t be Wonder Woman. What’s mine is mine, and what’s not mine was never meant to be.”       Gal Gadot

Wonder Woman rocks! And so does Gal Gadot, the sharp and gorgeous young actress who’s breathed new life into her. When I read her reflections about finding her way to her Wonder Woman role in an interview, I scrawled them down on a doctor’s appointment card because I wanted to remember them and share them with you. What a great mindset – not just for an actress, but for us as we pursue the writing life. Let’s unpack it and see what we can take with us on our own creative journey:

“Nothing I planned happened” – We’ve all seen the truth of this in our own lives and work, haven’t we? We’ve all seen plans and schemes we devoted plenty of time and attention to fall by the wayside of life. We’ve all faced the unexpected and found our efforts to generate the outcomes and results we wanted – or thought we wanted – didn’t quite pan out. Accepting this is wise and necessary.

“Whenever opportunity arose, I was prepared and positive” – Prepared and positive: This says it all, doesn’t it? When we meet opportunity with preparation and a positive outlook, wonderful things can happen. It’s a simple strategy: Preparation + Positive Attitude + Opportunity = Success. We can do this!”

“’All those ‘almosts’” don’t matter – For Gal, all those roles she auditioned for and didn’t ace, all those projects that didn’t pan out, weren’t really in the cards. If any one of them had come through, she might not have been where she needed to be to get the role she really wanted. So she didn’t get angsty over them, she let them go.

“What’s mine is mine, and what’s not mine was never meant to be” – Sounds fatalistic, but it’s also liberating, isn’t it? When we adopt this mindset, we’re really saying something exciting — that wherever we are, we’re in the perfect place. Every step we’ve taken, every ‘almost’ that didn’t happen, has been no accident, no mistake or misstep.

Think about it: Do you know the feeling you sometimes have, that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be? What if that was true all the time? What if we’re actually always at the right place at the right time and doing the right thing – wouldn’t that be amazing? Why not give ourselves this gift? Why not believe that “What’s mine is mine” – that if we’re prepared and positive, then the right opportunities will come our way and we’ll be ready for them?

Bravo, Gal! Inspired and energized by her words, let’s all write on!