When I joined the nearly 50 million people who watched the Game of Thrones series, I didn’t expect to learn a powerful lesson in business (and life).
What is it? Train like Arya.
(Spoiler Alert: Game of Thrones Ending)
Let me explain.
When we first meet Arya Stark, her world is shattered as she witnesses the brutal murders of her loved ones. Determined to seek vengeance, Arya creates a list of names.
Throughout the series, Arya’s story arc often seems secondary. While others are tied up in political games and gorey battles, Arya is off training in Braavos with the Faceless Men, learning to become “no one” and mastering the deadly arts of the assassin. She’s ignoring the rest of the world; and she’s just training.
By the end of the series, a twist of fate takes place, and Arya becomes the hero of the entire saga by killing the Night King. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see this coming.
As the scene unfolded, I felt a heart-rush of inspiration: I realized that Arya was only prepared to meet this completely unforeseeable moment because she had spent years simply training to be the best version of her assassin self she could become.
The lesson? Preparation and persistence pay off, often in unexpected ways.
In other words: Train Like Aria.
How does this apply to creative and/or self-employed journeys?
Arya’s journey taught me a crucial lesson for life and particularly for being self-employed: don’t wait for the perfect circumstances to prepare yourself: Train Like Arya.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking, "Once I have more of this, then I’ll do more of that." Or, to feel immobilized from the discrepancy between the way you want things to go and the way they are actually going.
(And, side note, for those into personal growth/spirituality, this principle is echoed in Law of Attraction: don’t wait for your circumstances to change before you take action. Get yourself ready, and the right circumstances will follow.)
But Arya’s story shows us the power of readiness—training and preparing over the long arc, even when the future seems uncertain.
If you’re self-employed or pursuing a creative endeavor, Arya’s story offers permission for you to not always completely know where you are going to get ready.
If something you want isn’t here yet, or feels stuck, you can sit around and wait or feel badly, or you can Train Like Arya and decide what skill sets you want to hone so that one day when the universe offers up a big opportunity, you’re ready.
There is intrinsic beauty in dedicating yourself to the practice of training, honing the creative act that is your life, whether it’s learning a brand new skill or something as simple as organizing your google drive.
Today I invite you to think: “how can I train like Arya?”