The only thing standing between you and your preferred future is the bullshit stories you keep telling yourself.
Proteus, the Greek mythological prophetic old man of the sea, knew all things of the past, the present, and the future, but disliked divulging what he knew. Those who wished to consult him had first to surprise and bind him during his noonday slumber. Even when caught he would try to escape by assuming all sort of shapes. But if his captor held him fast, the god at last would return to his proper shape and gave the wished-for answer.
Today, for anyone who intends to make his or her fortune in this world must be like a chameleon susceptible of reflecting the colors of the atmosphere that surrounds him, a Proteus apt to assume every form and every shape. He or she must be supple, flexible, insinuating, close, inscrutable, often base, sometimes sincere, sometimes perfidious, always concealing a part of his or her knowledge, indulging in but one tone of voice, patient, a perfect master of his or her own countenance, as cold as ice when any other man would be all fire; and if, not religious at heart, a very common occurrence for a soul possessing the above requisites, he or she must always have religion on his or her mind, that is to say on his or her face, on his or her lips, and in his or her manners.
The only thing standing between you and your preferred future is the bullshit stories you keep telling yourself as to why you cannot achieve your dreams and goals. Stop blaming everyone else other than yourself for your personal failures or disappointments. You do not have to listen to anyone who tells you how you need to live your life and what you need to own or what you need to do. It is up to you and only you to decide what you want to achieve in life. It is up to you, and only you, to define and to design your preferred future and to achieve it. You are not happy with your life! Seriously consider taking on your responsibilities and stop listening to anyone telling you how to live your life. It is up to you, and nobody else, to design your own life and to achieved your own preferred future.
No matter who you are or what you dream of becoming, remember this: No one ever came to this planet to take a back seat, play second fiddle or make it small.
Being who you want to be is a personal choice
Being successful, being who you want to be is everything about taking on responsibilities or refusing them. Understand this: You do not have to accept the role that society, your family and your environment foisted on you.
You are not happy with your life! Re-create yourself and design your own life like you want it to achieve your own preferred future. All it takes is some faith in yourself, a good plan, and a lot of discipline. Re-create yourself by forging yourself a new identity, one that will command attention and never bore your audience. Have a plan and show some discipline. Show some discipline and stick to your guns.
The moment you realize you have complete responsibility for every aspect of your existence is the exact moment you take control of your life rather than letting events and others define who you are.
Be the master of your public image
Understand this: There is a vital link between power and theater. You want to make your fortune in this world! Make yourself and actor and director on the world stage.
A few years ago, I moved to Manhattan, I wanted to be a writer; working for others was worse than a prison for it left me neither the time nor the freedom to pursue my passion. In Manhattan, so I thought, I would establish my independence and make my living by writing. It did not take very long, however, after my arrival in Manhattan, before I had to confront certain very harsh realities of life: In Manhattan, to have any degree of independence, you need to have money; Very few newcomers in Manhattan ever came close to making a living by writing. In fact, when I first showed my writing to an editor, he told me. “Find yourself a regular job and write as a hobby”. Clearly, I had come to Manhattan to attempt the impossible. And I had no other option than to go back home.
Back in Montreal, forced into a ready-made role, that one of a second-rate writer writing mostly for others, I decided that if I had to play a role, if I had to play that game, I would turn this game around: I would control the options forcing others to play with the cards as was going to deal. It is then that I came up with a strategy to re-invent, to re-create myself completely, forging myself a public image of my own making and never letting my newly created character grow stale or predictable.
For years now, I am playing a part for public consumption. In simply rejecting the limits society, my environment and family had set on me, what I really wanted to achieve was the power to determine my own life, my own character. I did not attain this power, however, by being myself. It would not have been possible. To attain this power, I had to re-create myself, to create a persona that I could constantly adapt to my own desires, a persona that attracted attention and gave me presence.
Understand this: The world wants to assign you a role in life, and once you accept that role you are doomed: Your power is limited to the tiny amount allotted to the role you have been forced and accepted to assume.
Understand this: The world is a theater and an actor plays many roles; you do not have to accept or comply with the limits society, your environment and family had set for you, by assuming all sort of forms and shapes you can you can escape these limits and have a life of your own. Enjoy that protean power, and if it is beyond you, at least forge a new identity, one of your own making, one that has no boundaries assigned to it by an envious and resentful world. This act of defiance is Promethean: It makes you responsible for your own creation.
Your new identity, your new character is what sets you apart and gives you theatrical presence. It is a costume that you can put on and take off at will according to circumstances. Your new identity protects you from the world precisely because this new character is not “you”; you no longer need not to take the critics personally.
When appearing before crowds wear your most spectacular clothing. Be upstaged by no one. Be notoriously vain about your appearance. When speaking before crowds, be a masterful orator. Know how to say a lot by saying a little and when to end a speech for maximum effect. Never fail to incorporate a surprise into each one of your public appearances, a startling announcement that will heighten their drama; immensely popular among the people, you will be hated and feared by your rivals. Learn to say your lines as if they had been scripted. Learn to gesture and move through a crowd with a constant sense on how you appear to your audience. Incorporate surprise into your repertoire, building drama into your speeches, staging into your public appearances. Make your gestures broad enough for the common man to grasp them instantly. Learn to enlarge your actions through dramatic techniques such as: Surprise; suspense; the creation of sympathy, and symbolic identification. Be constantly aware of your audience, of what will please them and what will bore them. Wherever you go, whatever you do, arrange to place yourself at the center, to command attention, and never be upstaged at any cost.
You want to make your fortune in this world! Be the master of your own image Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions; your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life. Now, those in the back rows can see and hear you, those in the front rows marvel at your audacity.
Remake yourself into a character of power
Understand this: The character you seem to have been born with is not necessarily who you are; beyond the characteristics you have inherited, your parents, your friends, and your peers have helped to shape your personality and not very often in the right way. The Promethean task of the powerful is to take control of the process, to stop allowing others that ability to limit and mold them. Remake yourself into a character of power. Working on yourself like clay should be one of your greatest and most pleasurable life tasks.
For thousands of years, only kings and the highest courtiers had the freedom to shape their public image and determine their own identity. The rest of mankind played the limited role that society demanded of them, and had little self-consciousness. The first people to other than aristocrats to play openly with their image in Western society were artists and writers, and later on dandies and bohemians. Today the concept of self-creation has slowly filtered down to the rest of society, and has become an ideal to aspire to.
The first step in the process of self-creation is self-consciousness: Being aware of yourself as an actor and taking control of your appearance and emotions. Again, understand and remember this: The bad actor is the one who is always sincere.
People who wear their hearts on their sleeves out in society are tiresome and embarrassing. Their sincerity notwithstanding, it is hard to take them seriously. Those who cry in public may temporarily illicit sympathy, but sympathy soon turns to scorn and irritation at their self-obsessiveness. They cry to get attention, we feel, and a malicious part of us wants to deny them satisfaction. Good actors control themselves better. They can play sincere and heartfelt, can affect a tear and a compassion look at will, but they do not have to feel it. Good actors externalize emotions in a form that others can understand. Method acting is fatal in the real world. No ruler or leader could possibly play the part if all of the emotions he showed had to be real. Learn self-control. Adopt the plasticity of the actor, who can mold his face to the emotion required.
The second step on the process of self-creation is the creation of a memorable character: One that compels attention, that stands out above all other players on the stage. Good drama, however, needs more than an interesting appearance, or a single stand-out moment. Drama takes place over time. It is an unfolding event.
Rhythm and timing are critical, and one of the most important elements in the rhythm of drama is suspense: The key to keeping the audience on the edge of their seats is letting events unfold slowly, then speeding them up at the right moment, according to a pattern and tempo that you control. Learn to orchestrate events in such a manner not to reveal all your cards at once, but unfolding them in a way that heightens their dramatic effect.
Proteus’ power came from his ability to change shape at will, to be whatever the moment required. Know how to be all things to all men. That is the art of winning over everyone. Craft and plan your entrances and exits carefully. Take note of temperaments and adapt yourself to that of each person you meet.
JMD
Owner of Bunkumless.com and King Global Earth and Environmental Sciences Corporation, JMD, a former attorney, is a Columnist for The Futurist Daily News and editor of the Social and Political Blog JMDlive.com Follow JMD @ jmdlive
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