I have had an interesting life! If you know me at all you may remember my seasons as a professional athlete (NHL Player and now coach) but did you know that it was also my good fortune to be in the movie “Miracle?” This movie depicted the US hockey win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics. I was contracted as a consultant to work behind the scenes as the hockey expert, with the prime responsibility of making the hockey “work.” This was a Disney film, but it couldn’t look like the Mighty Ducks.

The first right thing that Disney did was to take hockey players and teach them how to act, instead of taking actors and trying to teach them how to play hockey. Hundreds of players tried out for 70 spots and we were thrilled with the talent and character capabilities of our team. During the shooting of the movie we practiced and shot many of the152 plays I had animated on my computer. These replicated goals and significant plays that actually happened in that game during the '80 Olympics.

After a portion of time, Gavin O`Connor, our director, and Mark Ellis, my boss, intimated that they would like to get me a little part in the movie. My wife, Jenni, was thrilled that I became Kurt Russell`s body-double. Kurt is a fun guy who did an amazing job of playing Herb Brooks, the actual 1980 US Olympic coach.

So off I marched every day to hair and makeup, dressed exactly like Kurt, and stood in for him as we were shooting on-ice practice shots. Herb Brooks skating towards the camera is Kurt Russell, but once in a blue moon when you see Herb Brooks skating away from the camera - that’s my back-end! I got my back-end in the movie! Gavin and Mark came to me a little later and asked me to be the referee in the big US/Soviet Union game, which added up to 30 days of shooting and 3 lines in the movie.

All this to say, I thought that directors holding their hands up, with their thumbs together creating a frame, was just for Hollywood commercials (they don’t really do this do they?), but I was wrong. I watched Gavin O`Connor frame-in shots for the movie every day! Watching him do this one day, it hit me… this is what each of us do. We are individually making the movie of our lives, one frame at a time. What we deem to be important on a daily/weekly basis makes it into our frame and is acted upon. So the question is… what`s in your frame?

Are you making the movie that you want and will be proud of, or
are you making someone else’s movie that has nothing to do with your values, mission and vision? If you were to fast forward and watch your movie at the end of your life, will you be excited or disappointed?

The thing that makes the biggest difference in your movie’s outcome is your passion. Have you framed in the things that you are passionate about today in order to create the movie that you desire tomorrow?

The only way that you and I will look back on our movie at the end of our lives and say, “Yes, it’s Academy Award-winning,” is if, on a weekly basis, we intentionally act out the specific passion that we have discovered for our lives.

You are making your life`s MOVIE, one frame (day) at a time.

Author's Bio: 

Presently an Assistant Coach of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, Ryan Walter is also an inspiring motivational speaker and interactive leadership coach. This one time All Star and Stanley Cup winner played 15 seasons and over 1000 games in the National Hockey League, and was honored to be named Team Canada Captain, youngest NHL Captain, NHL Man of the Year, and Vice-President of the NHLPA. Ryan has been the co-founder and President of two start-up companies, a TV hockey analyst, and a hockey adviser and actor for both television and movies. Ryan has a Master of Arts Degree in Leadership/Business, and is the author of 4 books, and a regular contributor to Hockey Now. Sign up for Ryan’s free e-newsletter and check out his upcoming Leadership Cruise and Leadership Summit at www.ryanwalter.com.