Results Vs Consequences
A recent survey of 10-year-old children asked:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
The most popular answer:
“Famous”
NOT an Astronaut, NOT a Pro Athlete, NOT a Professional Singer, NOT an Oscar winning Actor or Actress.
What scares me about this thought pattern is I think we have started to associate and believe that Fame = Happiness.
We see actors walking the red carpet and they are smiling for the cameras and waving to their fans, we see an athlete after the game/match signing autographs and smiling for photos, we see a singer after a show getting mobbed by adoring fans and think that it must be amazing.
What these 10-year-olds in the survey fail to understand about their role models is that fame is a consequence of being excellent at what they do. Even more worrying is that I don’t think this thought pattern is only in young children. I have been around adults who talk about wanting to be famous or even how good they would be at “being famous”.
In 2019, there are an unlimited number of ways to find fame or infamy, especially with the level of personal media we have access to. While there are many positives to this free market system, there may be negative effects of attributing fame with happiness. This includes short term decisions and behavior that may have a long-term negative effect on happiness.
I am not saying that wanting to become famous is necessarily a bad aim for people. However, if there is no follow up and understanding of what someone wants to become famous for and why.
Many of the biggest role models in 2019 such as Megan Rapinoe, Mark Zukerberg, Stephon Curry, Serena Williams, Taylor Swift, Drake, etc do not define themselves as famous, they are defined by their excellence in business, technology, sports and entertainment. For many of these role models it is important to understand that the resulting happiness they get from their profession does not come from being famous, but from doing something they are passionate about and working to perfect their craft and become great.
The consequence of this greatness is the recognition they receive for being excellent. The pursuit of excellence is where you will find happiness. If your goal is to be famous or not, all I ask is that you think about;
1. What do you want to be famous (known) for?
2. What do you want your legacy to be?
These two questions are important because they will influence your decisions and more importantly your actions.