Is setting goals something you love to do because there is a higher purpose in your planning? Careful! Stephen M. Shapiro’s book, “Goal-Free Living,” is a timely reminder not to let goals ruin his life. As a game changing career coach, I am always interested in new perspectives on goals and goal setting in particular. Here are 3 goalless tips I learned from reading this book.

1- Setting work-life balance goals is like walking a tightrope in a hurricane

Fast-paced executive careers often require years of long hours and personal sacrifice before the goal is achieved. That goal may result in an incremental march to a C-level position in the boardroom with its salary and fringe benefits. But sometimes at a terrible cost to anyone who also wants a life outside of work, or rather the time and energy to enjoy it. Be careful what you sign up for!

2- Enjoy exploring your river

One of Mr. Shapiro’s interviewees uses an interesting analogy of aimless people immersing themselves in a river of passionate experience. For these people, goals and objectives are perhaps more like markers on the riverbank, or where the current changes from eddy to whitewater. They are passionately involved with their topic of interest and the present moment is more important than an indefinite future.

I think there is real value in this idea. It also reminds me of Tim Gallwey’s concept of “Self 1 and Self 2” in another wonderful book: “The Inner Game of Tennis”.

Perhaps the ideal combination for the goal-setter is to relax and get out of your own way.

3- Master your aspirations

In the world of Stephen Shapiro, your purpose, intention, or dream becomes something to aspire to: an aspiration. While “goal setting” is often translated into ways to get around roadblocks and obstacles, the fundamental meaning of aspiration is related to “inspire” and “spirit.”

The Goalless Approach is a refreshing look at reframing a journey to mastery. There will be times when floating down the river of experience will seem dull and unenthusiastic. This is to be expected and even welcomed, as these smooth interludes can lead to harrowing adventures unknown today.

In short, I think the most helpful advice I got from the book was to shed the baggage that comes with thinking “I’ll be happy when…”.

In the “4-Hour Workweek” worldview, goals are part of the planning that comes with life’s adventure. There is no “waiting”… each day that experience unfolds.

If you’re a search engine optimization professional, you know how important SEO tools are to your daily optimization efforts. Keyword suggestion tools, inbound link analysis software, and SERP checkers are vital for keyword research, keyword expansion, link building, and monitoring your site’s position changes on the web. the search results.

The good news is that search marketers don’t need to pay for these tools because there are a number of very effective free SEO tools on the web to choose from. Here is my list of the top five free SEO tools I use every day. Hopefully, you’ll find a few tools on the list to add to your arsenal of tools.

SEO for Firefox – This free tool is an add-on for Firefox from SEO Book. Integrates seamlessly with Google SERPs for great insight into search engine optimization metrics like toolbar PageRank, Twitter mentions, and how many domains and page deep links my site has acquired . SEO for Firefox also shows which links are “nofollowed” on a web page (highlighted in red), saving real time for link building and analysis. Other cool features include the number of social bookmarks, Alexa rank, cache date, and Wikipedia citations.

Majestic SEO – If you are building links, this is an invaluable search engine optimization tool to measure link acquisition. A great feature is the “daily update” which gives you a journal of all your new inbound links. Other cool tools from Majestic SEO are some nifty tools to chart your site’s link profile growth with lots of different cool images.

range checker – If you’re like me and obsessed with site rankings, then Rank Checker is a must-have search tool. SEO Book Rank Checker gives you daily ranking updates from Google, Yahoo and Bing simultaneously. You can export data to Excel and incorporate it into a keyword ranking report for your search engine marketing clients. Rank Checker also allows you to add multiple keywords at once and save those keyword lists as individual presets, so you don’t have to enter the same keywords repeatedly.

Yahoo link domain – I love using Yahoo Link Domain to analyze incoming links to my website. Yahoo Link Domain is also useful for polling your competition’s link profiles to find link opportunities for your own websites. Also, if you’re using the SEO add-on for Firefox, you can export your Yahoo linking domain results to Excel by clicking the “100” link, then hitting the “CSV” link to drill down further and examine your link profile. competitor.

Google Webmaster Tools – You can gain valuable insights into vital performance metrics and your website’s search result visibility with Google Webmaster Tools. Features like organic click-through rates for your top 100 keywords and the ability to take inventory of all your internal links really help you fine-tune your organic search marketing efforts.

there you go These five free SEO tools are some of the best you’ll find on the web. I use each of these tools on a daily basis to make my optimization efforts more effective and efficient and to become a better search marketer.

Most people today have a mobile phone by their side most of the day. This is the most personal platform available for customer calls to action. People are away from home these days and have a lot on their minds; The ability to easily use mobile when desired, combined with the increased functionality of today’s device, streamlines the checkout process, leading to higher conversion rates than any other method.

Marketing strategies must include the mobile channel to capture customers and drive sales. This is true even for the home business. At the local level, brick-and-mortar businesses that implement a mobile campaign will virtually be able to drive people right through their doors and to specific products of interest.

digital advertising is the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels (Radio, TV, Internet, Mobile) to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and profitable manner. There are 2 different forms of digital marketing. Pull digital marketing in which the user searches and selects (pulls) the content of a site and. push marketing, which involves both the marketer (creator of the message) and the recipients (the user). The seller has to push (send) the messages to the user for the message to be received. Examples of digital push marketing include email, SMS, MMS, and RSS. For a highly effective marketing campaign, push and pull message marketing should be used in conjunction with traditional channels that promote calls to action.

multimedia messages (Multimedia Messaging Service) Mobile marketing allows streaming video, flash, and advanced capabilities and can contain a timed slideshow of images, text, audio, and video. This technology improves the user experience and will lead to higher click-through rates.

Bluetooth Systems offering “hot spot” areas are also being implemented. These offer a content management system with a Bluetooth distribution function. This technology has the advantages that it is permission based, has higher transfer speeds and is also a radio based technology and therefore cannot be billed. Geo-fencing is another technique that can also be used to trigger mobile ads and special messages for users when they enter or leave an area such as a stadium.

The migration into the mobile advertising market has been highlighted by Google’s acquisition of Ad Mob and Apple’s purchase of Quattro Wireless. Brands are in search of this means of personal technology.

The rapidly growing mobile trend

There has always been a demand among consumers for more technologically advanced products that simplify our lives and facilitate the delivery of information, as evidenced by the methods of major media outlets that have ranged from print materials to radio, television, computers, laptops. , cell phones and now smart devices. mobile devices.

Why mobile devices should be in your arsenal of marketing resources

• Google’s new mantra is “Mobile First”
• The use of mobile devices is already 5 times more than the Internet
• Apple recently sold more than 2 million iPhones
• 160,000 Droid smartphones are activated every day
• Consumers spent $6.2 billion on apps this year (Gartner)
• The US mobile web has been growing more than 2% month over month. (Nielson)
• More than half of all Internet connections today are made through smartphones.
• 91% of Americans keep their cell phone within 3 feet of them

Increased use of portable devices Devices

Email, mobile web browsing, and social networking are increasingly used on portable devices. In recent years, SMS (Short Message Service), which is a one-way text message sent via a cell phone, has become a legitimate advertising channel and is the most popular branch of the mobile marketing industry. . In fact, data indicates that people prefer to receive timely subscription text messages. These messages can be 160 characters long and include links to mobile-optimized websites or app downloads to help create more effective and measurable calls to action.

Email can also be used to inform customers about texting programs. Or an email can be triggered as a result of a text message, to provide additional details about the call to action or fulfill a request for information.

Mobile programs also typically include the use of desktop and mobile web that allows customers to directly provide their permission to receive text message communications by completing online forms. Web visits may also be triggered as a result of a text message announcing special offers, prizes, or incentives to complete surveys and questionnaires.

Mobile programs could also include social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, My-Space) where companies can use their company profile to promote mobile programs and initiate opt-in permissions for text message communications. Incentive marketing promotions can also be listed to encourage people to forward text message programs to their contacts.

Mobile and main street

Many cell phone networks are beginning to offer location-based services (LBS) as a way to deliver personalized advertising and other information to cell phone subscribers based on their current location. Laser-focused tracking is possible down to the block and demographic targeting down to the make and model of phone your prospect is looking at when they click your ad. Companies like Foursquare, Gowalla, and even Google Place Pages are developing innovative ways to connect with potential local customers.

Augmented reality systems that combine the real physical world with enhanced computer-generated imagery are also being developed. When combined with the cell phone’s GPS and camera, people will be able to simply point their phone at a specific location and get real-time directions or other information, such as local restaurant reviews. Battery manufacturers are also hard at work using nanotechnology to improve run time and recharge times. They are also developing alternative charging methods, all in an effort to meet the growing demands on batteries.

Mobile devices present an incredible opportunity for “high street” businesses because it will be as if they are walking around town with the potential customer and taking them directly to your business and directly to the product, service or food they are looking for.

Income Producing Benefits

Businesses can now keep in touch with mobile users through various techniques, resulting in greater efficiency with revenue-generating benefits. We are on top of an exponentially growing trend of mobile usage and marketing through this channel is still new so there is little competition. There are simple, highly profitable, turnkey systems available right now for anyone looking to promote their business or who might be interested in starting one that lends itself easily to mobile commerce, such as an affiliate marketing program.

Small businesses can quickly jump-start a simple mobile strategy almost immediately by using ultra-inexpensive mobile ads that use specially designed “squeeze pages” that fit on a mobile device’s screen and only allow the user to view the product or exit the page. offer. They cannot “surf” for alternatives. There are also very new mobile-only CPA marketing networks and special YouTube for mobile video apps. All of this, combined with a targeted email campaign, is driving skyrocketing conversion rates for those who use them. Companies that seize the moment will be riding this high-tech tsunami wave straight to the bank.

“Everyone is too afraid to use the Internet to buy things.”

Do you remember when they said that? It’s not that long ago.

Look at us now. People can and do buy anything from the web. The fear, really a fear of change, is gone.

They said that television would destroy the cinema. That didn’t happen. Movies are a completely different form of television, but we didn’t realize it at the time. Television and cinema survived and now both feed on each other.

In hindsight, we all see what was perfectly obvious.

Now they say that blogs or weblogs are taking over the Internet.

A blog is effectively an online journal where you, or a group, can record your innermost thoughts and comment on a topic. Anyone has access to read your journal entry (known as a post) and can comment on it.

For much more detailed information about blogging, see the Wikipedia entry for “Blogging.“

you outdo yourself 474 million search results if you enter “blog” into Google.

Part of the reason for the attraction of blogs is their ease of use. It only takes a few minutes to start blogging.

You first sign up with a blog host, like Google’s Blogger, SixApart’s TypePadblog, or use WordPress.

You choose a page template that you like. There are several very good ones available completely free. Then post your first entry.

The final step is to report to a blog directory every time you create a new post (this is called pinging). Services like Pingoat and Pingomatic are sites that can ping other directories on your behalf.

People search these directories using blog search engines and browse blogs similar to websites.

Do companies really use blogs?

Company executives use blogs. For example, Bob Lutz, vice president of General Motors, has his own blog. Other GM people also contribute. IBM Vice President Bob Sutor and Boeing Vice President of Marketing Randy Baseler also write their own blogs.

Blog of employees of corporations such as Microsoft, Google and Hewlett Packard.

When blogging it is used in a positive way, it shows your current and potential clients your corporate personality and helps to establish a good relationship.

What are the disadvantages of the blog?

The CEO of the company should not blog. That’s because there may be pressure to bookmark future events. Or worse yet, if they release a clanger, it can spread around the world very quickly.

Another potential downside of blogging is that you have no influence over what others put on their own blogs about what you’ve written.

You only need to look at some of the comments General Motors received on Bob Lutz’s blog when they started a discussion about seat belts to see how heated things can get.

Companies may be concerned that employees are spending too much time writing or reading blogs. That means a blogging policy must be put in place to prevent such abuse.

What is the advantage of a blog?

A blog can position someone, or a company, as an expert. But people can easily pass off other people’s work as their own. So it really is a case of “buyer beware” when reading blogs.

So are blogs going to be a knockout blow to attracting and retaining customers?

The short answer is it depends, and the reasons are:

1) It’s just another marketing communication channel – it can be used well or not. Rather as PR is used.

2) For some companies it is too public

3) It is completely without editorial control

4) Requires a commitment to update regularly and to check and respond to comments.

It has been said that consultancies and other organizations dealing with knowledge and intellectual property benefit the most from blogs. That’s because they can demonstrate their skill and expertise to their market in a different way than other marketing tactics.

But really why should it stop there? The General Motor blog is useful for communicating new model launches and responding to customer feedback.

In fact, there really isn’t a practical limit to who can use blogs to communicate with customers and prospects.

But in the end, is blogging a dead end?

The business blog is definitely an important communication tool that every business should seriously consider as part of their marketing arsenal. But you have to look at it as just another business tool whose ultimate measure is: “does it get more sales or does it reduce the company’s costs?”

If you can’t deliver at least one of those measures, business blogging deserves to fail.

I have been blogging for over a year and have found that I have had thousands of views. I intentionally get no sales from him. But that’s because I’m writing mini articles and will eventually use them as the basis for my next book.

So, in the final analysis, blogs are another communication channel, so businesses have the ability to take yours and have you do the PR, word of mouth, viral and internet marketing for them.

Internet publicity it has become big business. Suppose blogging to do the same.

Many small business owners have yet to realize the true advantage of blogging because they perceive bloggers as selfish. In a recent US News and World Report article, a survey by Warillow & Co. showed that only about 41 percent of small business owners have an interactive website, and if they do have a website, a blog doesn’t take up much of it. high on the priority list for inclusion.

These statistics show that the small business community is not only small in size but also in vision. This Web myopia is limiting its reach. And that’s a shame, because blogging can be a powerful tool for building your business.

Another study showed that half of the companies surveyed closed sales as a direct result of their blogs. The blogs regularly delivered qualified leads to 70 percent of those business owners.

Ideas and nuggets posted on a blog by a good (or great) thought leader go viral. A reader subscribes and then passes on the valuable information on this blog, and word spreads. That’s when you turn your blog into a driving force for your business. This is a great opportunity for you to become the thought leader everyone wants to turn to for creative and thought-provoking ideas to improve their own business. Using a blog host like Typepad, Blogger, or WordPress also increases your search engine optimization, because these sites automatically format their blogs for search engines to pick up keywords and phrases. And of course, the more you update your blog with rich and insightful information, the more followers you’ll gain with more frequently returning customers and prospects. Ultimately, your blog will drive more traffic to your website and build brand recognition in the process. The result? More leads, referrals and sales!

The next question is, “Where do I start?” The best way to start is to read blogs that are relevant to your business like VAR. You’ll quickly see that the blogs are written in a conversational tone that provides insightful and practical information in an easy-to-read manner. Here are some ideas on how to drive business through your blog:

– Discuss a practical situation without using advertising language. Using a promotional voice on a blog is a huge turn off for most readers. Customers want to find relevant and useful information with their own unique experience mixed in. Define a particular problem you experienced and then explain how you solved it. Better yet, consider what some of your customers’ problems might be and come up with the challenge and a solution based on your own experience. This will encourage your customers to keep coming back for more. If you only talk about yourself and your services, it “sounds” like marketing, which should be used in your advertising, not your blogs.

– Promote your blog. Okay, this kind of goes against what I just said about avoiding marketing language, but if you want people to read your blog, they have to find you first. Add your blog URL to your signature on all emails. Link your blog to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages. Let readers subscribe to your blog via email (with a subscription option on your website) so they get your blog delivered to their inbox every day. Write about other opinion leaders as they relate to your topic to create an association with that leader (but do so thoughtfully so you don’t “use” them). At any opportunity, post a comment on other blogs where potential customers may be looking for similar information. This will send them looking for more.

– Create value. Stretch your potential. Combine value with real business opportunities. What products do you have that you want to promote this month? Offer some insights on upcoming industry trends; then gently sell the value of a particular product for the solutions it offers. Encourage others to get involved in your blog, to ask questions and even answer them. If customers feel like they’re getting something of value for free, they’ll come back for more.

– Offer something for free. Blogs are a great way to post ideas to entice your readers to provide their email address (ie opt-in). Create links on your blog to free reports, articles, or product samples that you’re willing to give away for a trial, in exchange for their email addresses. Give suggestions on how this free tool is just a glimpse of the big picture. This helps create ways to encourage your customer to buy more.

– Become a news source. Read read read. What are the latest trends? Who is going to present the next version of the solution provider’s software? What is the bigger economic picture and how do your customers fit into it within your world? By taking facts and news snippets that are current and relevant to today’s business world, and then offering a localized perspective for your client, you reposition yourself as a thought leader. Customers will come back to your blog again and again because they know you know what’s going on. You will become a trusted business advisor and ultimately get more business as a result.

There is no doubt that blogs can be very time consuming, almost to the point where they dominate the time spent on your marketing mix. But you don’t have to. Trying too hard to blog can be just as bad as not blogging at all. If you have something important to say, by all means, say it. But if you find yourself forcing a problem or trying to come up with a creative idea that just doesn’t exist, step away from the keyboard and try again tomorrow. Remember to use your blog as a business tool, not just a place for white noise.

Many websites are often launched in a hurry by their owners, without paying much attention to the correct optimization of their content. They do some quick research on the keywords to target based on the product they want to sell or the niche they want to write about.

Most of the time, the resulting keywords they decide to use are what we call short-tail keywords, for example, Nike shoes, coffee machines, baby strollers, etc.

These key phrases get millions of searches every month and, for a newbie, they light up their eyes with dollar signs.

The problem with this is that the keyword phrases they have decided on are not really buyer keywords but more generic and really not that great for optimizing your content. They would also be competing against large corporations that have been around for decades and have a huge advertising budget.

You may think that the more searches that are done for a keyword phrase, the more traffic it will attract to your website or blog.

This couldn’t be further from the truth…!

However, in this article I will explain why this is not the case and why you should use long-tail keywords for SEO (search engine optimization).

• long tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that have a “tail” that contributes to the organic keywords entered in an online search that your site visitors use (or query) when searching the Internet, whether they are they simply look for information or to acquire their particular service or product.

Short-tail keyphrases are usually no more than 1-2 words. Long-tail keywords are usually much longer, but more importantly, they are also much more specific.

• Then! What is a long tail keyword?

As mentioned above, these keywords are expressions related to your main topic. Long-tail keywords have much less competition as people discard them due to not enough people searching for that particular set of words. They are much easier to target and consistently produce more shopper-friendly website traffic.

Unlike conventional keywords (coffee machines or Nike shoes), long-tail keyword expressions are usually 3 words or more and usually no more than 5. They are a direct connection to a keyword phrase that a person I would type in a search engine ( Google, Bing or Yahoo) that will help narrow down your search. These keyword phrases are what you should focus on and use when optimizing your site content.

By using long-tail keywords, you will dramatically increase the likelihood that your potential customer will be a buyer. This is compared to using short tail keywords which will generate more search results but not necessarily produce buyers.

• Examples of long tail keywords

Try typing “coffee machines” into a search engine, it will return around 16 million sites, but typing “isomac coffee machines Australia” will only return 18 thousand sites. 18 thousand search results is still too high. Other experts may go so far as to say that the returned search results of 18K are fine. It shows that by using more specific keywords, you can reduce competition and improve your chances.

My recommendation and personal preference is to look for search results in the region of three hundred to eight thousand. Now this may not always be the case. If you’re looking for local searches, these numbers would become irrelevant and you might only be seeing a few hundred searches.

As a general rule of thumb, when deciding to use local searches, it’s not worth searching for fewer than 50 searches a month.

It is less complicated to get a first page ranking and web traffic with long-tail keyword phrases compared to less specific, short-tail keyword phrases.

• Other long tail examples:

• Australia baby carrier

• non-caffeinated types of tea

• non-caffeinated types of tea

• cheap Nike sneakers wholesale free shipping

• Long Tail Keywords SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Targeting long tail phrases is a must for SEO purposes and also to help you get your business or blog indexed faster, as a result of fewer competitors and more than likely being seen by the right audience i.e. customers who are ready to buy him . You should also use this strategy for your site content, your blog, your videos, your website design, as well as your off-page optimization strategies.

• long tail SEO strategy

Search engines are becoming more and more personalized, so it is very important to focus on long-tail keywords in your SEO campaigns.

• How to find long tail keywords for SEO?

There are many different ways to find long tail keywords. You could possibly use keyword research tools or you can even spy on your competition to find unique keywords that no one is using.

Below are some of the tools I use to find long-tail keywords:

• Google keyword tool

• Google Autocomplete Tool

• Use of Google Search

• Google auto-suggest

Finally, when doing research on the keywords you are going to use, remember to take into account the phases that cover between 3 and 5 words related to your main topic. They are narrow and buyer specific. And finally have fewer searches.

I hope this clears up what long tail keywords are and why they are necessary for your search engine optimization (SEO).

If you are someone who ventures out and tries their hand at real estate, you should consider having a blog that talks about your interest in the field. Blogging is one of the best marketing strategies that are being adopted by various organizations regardless of their size and niche. Whether it’s a drug company or an individual fashion designer, blogging can help attract online attention and lots of visitors to one’s website, which in turn brings in lots of new customers.

Here are 6 real estate blogging tools and gadgets worth considering:

1. Calmly: This is a professional text editor available online. Calmly encourage distraction-free writing. With this tool you can write, add images and more. It gives an idea of ​​what one’s blog will look like with all the information and images.

2. Hemingway application: Your blog must be readable. It should be written in easy to understand language as it will be visited by people from all over the world. Therefore, readability is a crucial thing that needs to be considered while writing a blog. The Hemingway app is a tool that can help analyze the readability of your blog. The tool highlights text that can be difficult to read and even suggests solutions to improve blog readability.

3. View of Irfan: This is an amazing image editor. If you plan to start a real estate blog, you may need to upload multiple images to showcase properties, buildings, and locations. These images are quite heavy and can take hours to load. Using Irfan View one can edit images to reduce the image size.

4. Co Schedule Headline Analyzer: Headlines are the first thing that catches the attention of online visitors. If your blog doesn’t have a catchy title, the chances of it being left out or ignored are higher. Co Schedule’s Headline Analyzer helps analyze the headline and suggests changes that can make it more interesting to read.

5. Pictogram: This is a info graphic app. It is easier to inform someone through infographics as it saves time by reading the entire post. Online visitors rarely spend more than 5 minutes on a web page. Piktochart can be helpful in getting the message across in a fraction of seconds. Although this tool takes some time to create infographics, it is worth considering for your real estate blog. With the tool, you can create graphics that convey information about the place, such as society, schools, and shopping complexes near the property.

6. it can go:A blog with amazing graphics can help your blog stand out from the competition. Canva is a blogging tool that allows its users to convey their message through graphics. It is an easy to use tool and does not require any technical qualifications to use it. Graphics designed by Canva can also be shared on social media.

The Internet has made our world seem so small that we can do almost anything while sitting in front of a PC or laptop screen. This technology has proven to be quite beneficial specifically for the real estate industry. The Internet has helped us create our own virtual world where we can imagine ourselves in a home we always dreamed of living in.

The problem with the microblogging platform Twitter is that it is deceptively simple, and this is partially true because each tweet is only 140 characters or less. So while it seems like very little attention is needed to tweet, it actually takes a planned strategy to be effective on Twitter.

But before you delve into your strategy, you should join Twitter if you haven’t already. And even this relatively simple step can be fraught with danger. (Some of you may already be on Twitter and not following one or more of the tips below.)

So, here are my top Twitter tips to get you off to a good start on this social media platform:

Sign up for Twitter only when you are ready to follow these steps:

1. Post a photo with your bio summary.

2. Choose a good Twitter username (it can be your name, your company name or your brand, but not something ridiculous – try to avoid using underscores and numbers – whatever capitalization you enter the username is the way your username will be displayed, although people can type with or without capital letters).

3. Put your real name in the NAME box in the settings / account information. (Your Twitter username goes in the username box).

4. Start slowly watching what other people are tweeting instead of trying to accumulate 1,000 followers in one day and get kicked off Twitter for “spamming.”

5. Include a URL if you have a website.

6. Write something interesting in your bio summary instead of something ridiculous.

7. Send at least two Twitter updates as soon as you upload your photo and write your bio summary (160 characters).

Of course, there are many more tips for using Twitter on, but this will get you started. (If you are a blogger, note that you can use third-party applications to automatically post your blog feeds to your Twitter account.)

And no matter what they say (and I’ve read the naysayers too), if – and I mean yes – you learn to use Twitter correctly and effectively, you will come to appreciate what a great online tool it is.

Casablanca has it all: moving love story; awesome art; and captivating characters. It is a classic movie that millions of people watch over and over again. However, did you know that Casablanca was also an example of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey? Here’s how to turn the movie into a useful tool for teaching the hero’s journey.

The hero of Casablanca embarks on a search for personal growth and development. Rick has lost his way, consumed by bitterness and longing. When he discovers that he can have what he has wanted for so long, he abandons everything for a cause and, in doing so, finds his way again. However, when the story is analyzed from the point of view of the hero’s journey, first identified by Joseph Campbell, it clearly contains each of the twelve stages of the Monomith.

Learning about the hero’s journey is no easy task, and dividing up the readings and classroom reading can have a profound impact on how students internalize and understand the lesson. Before showing the students Casablanca, describe the concept of the hero’s journey. Provide them with a worksheet that they can complete during the scheduled breaks in the movie.

When discussing the hero’s journey with your class, simply go through the twelve stages of the concept, noting that at times, like in Casablanca, the steps can seem messy. The first thing to establish is a quick summary of the hero’s journey shown in the movie. Who is the hero? What happened to him or her? One answer is that Rick progresses from a self-centered cynic to a caring individual, capable of sacrificing a life with the woman he loves for the greater good of opposing fascism.

Working individually, in pairs, or in class, describe actions in the film that could manifest the twelve stages of the hero’s journey. Remember, some characters, like Laszlo, can have more than one role in the story and one or more of the stages or archetypes (like the Trickster) can be omitted or combined. Make lists of characters to identify the archetypes of the hero’s journey that appear in the film, and for each character, describe the role it plays in telling the story of the film.

Casablanca is a special movie that, with a little planning, can be used to teach students about the hero’s journey. Giving students the ability to recognize this archetype and training them to apply it in different circumstances is a solid lesson that they will use for years to come.