Personal Growth

Michael Palin + John Cleese – How To Be An Icon

Fame, like practically everything else… is changing.

Celebrity in the past has been looked at as something special, foreign, and limited. People gossip and judge famous people to some ridiculous degree.

I talk about ‘celebrity-juice’ as a tool. It`s an energy you can tap into. You can build your own or collaborate with somebody elses. Go ahead and fawn over that celebrity if it inspires you to greater heights – many good things come from fans uniting. You can use their level-of-achievement as a standard for something to do yourself.

Celebrities have big dreams, and they believe they can achieve them. They also attract a lot of followers.

Some people have issues with being a ‘follower’, and many people have issues ‘taking the lead’, but both these things have been necessary for any idea or change to really take hold and succeed. The United States have Obama as well as his supporters, Christianity had Jesus and his disciples, and Apple has* Steve Jobs. (Steve passed on recently, but his legacy lives on).

"Most people have no clue what they want, and if you ask them, you’ll get a lame answer…It’s not a democracy. It never is. It’s about acting in a way that you’re proud of, that the tribe can interact with. Often, the leader’s job is to come quite close to destroying everything but she does it to get to the end goal that everyone needs." – Seth Godin on Listening To The Tribe, c/o CopyBlogger.com

Celebrities Are Leaders

I say that the world’s celebrities, are leaders. They’re the ones who have the courage to take us forward in a very public arena. They receive criticism that would make most people cry. They receive praise and attention that would distract anyone.

They all share a common trait, which is the willingness to follow their heart, no matter how uncomfortable society feels. This is a sure sign of a leader, someone solid people can rely on and look to. The bonus result from such true alignment and purpose, is charisma.

Webster’s dictionary defines charisma as:

“…a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which s/he is ‘set apart’ from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These as such are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as divine in origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader.”

Leaders (celebrities) begin as ‘normal’ people, and they had their own vision and goals. They also uncompromisingly take steps towards them. Eventually the leaders build a following, because they’re uncompromising belief in themselves makes it clear that they are destined-to-succeed. People feel good following those who are destined-to-succeed. People will invest in them and support them.

Leaders generally have stories of hard beginnings, obscurity, isolation, and failure. They are clear badges of honor that speak volumes to others. They are undeniable integrity, faith, and decisivenss

Some celebrities-as-leaders are more obvious than others: Gandhi for example, needs very little explanation, and is a shining example of a charismatic religious and secular celebrity.

Sometimes these famous personalities are leaders – but in a very subtle way, or limited to a specific niche.

"Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. This scarcity makes leadership valuable. If everyone tries to lead all the time, not much happens. It’s discomfort that creates the leverage that makes leadership worthwhile." – Seth Godin on Leaders, Tribes.

Sasha Grey, Porn-Leader

Not everyone knows who Sasha Grey is, but she is a pioneering leader-of-change in the field of — wait for it — porn.

Sasha’s critics may write her off as a ‘misguided porn-star’ or ‘warped girl’, who would change if she ‘knew the truth’, and that’s fine, such is the role of critics in our current society. (""If I had written a boring book, there’d be no criticism. No conversation. [Ask yourself:] How can I create something that the critics will criticize?" – Seth Godin, Tribes)

Whatever the case, Sasha has definitely accomplished some things in bold, leader-like ways which are directly in contrast to what most of her entire industry generally believes possible. She crossed powerfully into mainstream media without changing herself, her personality, or her art much at all. (She is not the only person to do this, Nina Hartley for example, had a less-notable role in “Boogie Nights”, and Katie Morgan’s done it as well.)

Sasha also runs her own production company and has taken it to the next level, becoming a major player. She was approached by Steven Soderberghto star in “The Girlfriend Experience” (2009). Even if she does not achieve some transcendent worldwide fame, she has certainly opened people’s eyes that porn-stars aren’t some kind of corrupt or shallow. They are people with hopes and dreams, and they can sprinboard off of a time in porn towards other things, and be received well for it. She led the way.

As if porn wasn’t controversial enough, let’s look at an even more controversial example: Hitler and the Nazis. While their recorded behaviour and agenda is definitely not applauded here, there are clear leadership principles at work, worthy of respect. Hitler was able to go from being a ‘nothing’, to leader of a massive movement, all in his own brief lifetime.

What about followers? Followers range in degree. Here’s a look at some of the types of followers:

The Masses
This is similar to most fans of bands or artists, where they remember every now and then to check on their preferred entertainer. They are seen as fickle.

The Devotees
Almost a cult-like following where the follower dedicates their entire lives (historically in semi-confused ways) to a cause. This is like religions, cults, and activist movements.

The First Followers
These followers can be almost as ‘famous’ as the leaders themselves. Right-hand-men, business-partners, lovers, and muses would all fall into this category.

I’ve experimented many different ways with these various kinds. I’ve always wanted my first followers, the people who resonate so much with me and what I do, that they feel compelled to come along for the ride.

Are You A Leader Or Follower?

Trick question. Everyone is both.

Yes, you can choose a dominant role that suits you, but you’ll never eliminate the other side altogether. Maybe you don’t want to be a celebrity, but you’ll still lead sometimes. Maybe you don’t want to be a fan, but you still have people who inspire you.

There are pros and cons to being either a leader or a follower, but both are necessary to affect powerful change in the world. They are two sides of the same coin. Get a bunch of leaders together in a room and ask them to discuss their followers, I can guarantee they’ll all be praising the followers like crazy. They’ll be thanking their “beautiful, adoring fans”. Get a bunch of fans gathered to talk about they`re favourite celeb, and they`ll praise them as well.

Similar to a giant machine that accomplishes some incredible task for humanity, if it were missing even one gear or washer, perhaps it would vibrate apart and break. Clearly, that gear or washer was as vital to the operation of the device, as the engine. There is no comparing or competing, they both work together to make up the impressive whole.

On top of that, it changes moment to moment. One minute you’re a follower of somebody, the next you’re leading. It`s important to be at home with both.

Being a leader means being a director for attention and resources. Being a follower means supporting, uplifting, and fueling the leader. One is focused and on stage, the other is part of an energetic audience.

Leader? Follower? Celebrity? Fan? Do these labels really matter? Play whatever role suits the moment. Do what feels right. Do What You Love.

 

 

I’m sure you have something to say (I called Sasha Grey a Porn-Leader!), share in the comments!

Today I’m going to touch on something very few people talk about and yet most care quite a bit about.  They don’t really consciously think about it, but it’s there.

There are people in this world who were born intellectual geniuses and there are people who are natural ‘physical monsters.’  These people can perform amazing feats of creativity, creating books and clothing lines or doing one-arm-chin-ups and punching through concrete or any other various other tasks of such nature.

These people, if they simply did these things on auto-pilot in a mechanical way, while they would become proficient and “better” easily, would be learning the hard way how painful and boring it is to do such things so unconsciously, compared to what they could do if they did push their comfort zones.  Put another way, if they grew in their power (technique, speed, implementation of such tasks), and not risk with it in a vulnerable position, they would end up disempowering themselves and holding their growth back.  They’d be afraid of losing what they could accomplish already, and they’d try to remain in their current (inevitably lowering) skills in their favourite discipline, without really expanding and growing of who they really are.  They would not really be able to say ‘Hey, now I can do a one-finger one-armed chin-up, because I trained hard consciously and reached a new level.’ Put yet another way, these people need to increase their vulnerability always, to increase their enjoyment of life.  If they didn’t, they could lose it all.  But by doing so, they tremendously increase their ability to succeed in accomplishing their dreams.  Basically, they take risks, and ‘God helps them.’

 

There are others who were born with much less genius, much less physical talent.  These people who go through life in a daze and their accomplishments are easily forgotten or even if remembered, cannot really be praised as a true contribution to society for most people.  Often discarded as simply useless by the community around them, they still are beautiful in their own way and, if proceeding in a certain way, also are capable of pulling through a dark horse victory.

 

These people are already always vulnerable (through their lack of natural capacity), and so it would seem as though they must improve their sense of power unto themselves, and build skills to facilitate their growth.  These skills could be anything from sports, dancing, social skills, tech skills, job hunting ability, writing skill, so on and so forth.  Though it would seem that these people would have to do the reverse, grow in power and technique of various activities, and while that’s a part of it, actually the answer for them is the same.  They must simply grow more conscious about being vulnerable and do activities that “put them at risk”, that they realize can benefit themselves, their friends, and life itself.  After doing these in various habitats and scenarios, they will learn and imbibe a certain degree of skill and power of whatever fortune gives them.  If they tried to do this in the reverse order, that is, to become skilful at certain tasks with a certain set motive or agenda to “be the best” or to accomplish some “personal aim with an ego attached”, they would certainly not live up to their full potential, it would seem unnatural, and most importantly, it shows of their character to life itself that they are not trusting of what is given to them, and their lack of gratefulness would change things. They’d be better served by simply doing new things with joy and complete innocence, despite a lack of natural ability.

 

Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter, because God helps them too, especially for those ready to listen.

 

I’d like to take a moment to give some praise to some people who’ve been strongly instrumental and influential with SpiritSentient and whom I’d love for the world to be more aware of.

For awhile they’ve been tucked away in the People Behind SpiritSentient page, but I’d like to expand on that.

Adam Potts

– A brilliant creator, Adam’s extremely proficient in many disciplines and he’s often off at some course or another, expanding his horizons. He’s a key investor and huge reason SpiritSentient Evolved Clothing has debuted so strongly. Thanks so much Adam.

Arthur Hung

– Arthur is an amazing, wonderful, energetic soul with a pure heart. He helps everyone, all the time, and is vital in spreading the word and growth of SpiritSentient. He’s inspired heavily SpiritSentient’s site, blog, clothing, artwork, growth, development, and vision.

Bella Agronik

– Bella’s attention to detail is key, as she voraciously tackles every word/image/detail on SpiritSentient.com and makes sure it’s pristine, clear, and up to par. She also provides me with personal style upon personal style, as an awesome jeweler.

Mohamed Farah

– A powerful force in the community, particularly in Rexdale, Mohamed is all about helping the next generation, and all the time, input, ideas, and vision he’s contributed have been beautiful.

Greg Wheeler

– Hipness consultant. Greg’s designed a shirt or two, and helped with the soon-to-be released Evolved Clothing Packaging. He’s also featured in a rock-climbing video (and a soon-to-be sequel), and offers his chilled-out, laid-back, completely worry-free vibe at all times. Catch photos of him climbing and in Sunday Sports.

Frank Peluso

– Another man of many talents, Frank’s most visual (and impressive) contributions include his amazing photography. His eye for capturing beautiful moments is incredible and they can be seen in some SpiritSentient Inspirational Videos.

Jeremy/JD/The Gang at Astro

– OMG… the people at Astro Printing are like… the greatest printers ever. I love them. Jeremy runs a record label, that commissioned this artwork: Electric Blown and Blessed, and he may be releasing a brand new eco-friendly, unique-dyed fashion tee, and I for one, would love for that to happen. He’s also written a guest article, which you can see here.

Jay Lushington

– An unbelievably talented php/flash/c/html/java/etc coder, technology visionary, and all around amazing person, Jay’s been on-board ‘since the beginning’ and always makes time in his schedule for SpiritSentient. It’s wicked. Check him out at MassiveNuMedia.com

Tori Mongrain

- Tori, Tori, Tori A bundle of pure ecstatic happy blissful appreciative grateful energy. Whenever SpiritSentient does anything, in anyway, she’s all over it. She’s connected many, and brought all kinds of opportunity and joy. She may be helping expand Evolved Clothing into Evolved Lingerie (yes, I’ve always loved lingerie. A lot. And so does she!) – She’s featured in Tori Mongrain’s Fun Yoga video, and participated in Sunday Sports.

Rossana De Angelis

– A tremendous force in the culinary world, Rossana is a relatively new addition, resident chef at SpiritSentient, and we love her tons. Food is such a sublime experience and so integral to our society (and physical existence), and she pursues it with a passion. She aims at having everything eco-friendly, slow-food, delectable-variety, and she succeeds. She’s huuuuge on vegan/gluten-free stuff as well, and more of her can be seen at chiliandfennel.com (soon-to-be redone c/o yours truly ) or you can watch this awesome Chili And Fennel Video – Delicious Rabbit in Wine. Bam.

Whew…
Now, SpiritSentient touches many lives, and is touched by even more, and this next section is to thank and appreciate everyone else’s equally important contribution. Some of you have bought shirts, or come out to artshows, or treated us to meals, or sent love, or just briefly thought about us… and everyone of us has a part and a purpose to play, and I love expressing gratefulness for that. Thank you all so so much for your love and support, we all become better through each of you.

I feel so happy