How to become famous

Worry about your own life first

I have witnessed multiple people in my life consumed by reality TV, the news or the latest Netflix series… in fact, I have been known to binge-watch 6 hours of Vikings or spend hours of my life watching rugby, wishing I was up there playing it, on the big screen, with fans screaming my name. 

I have pondered how people become famous, I think part of every child wishes one day they will be famous for the path they choose to go in life, be that drama, music, sport or politics or OnlyFans (Keeping with the times and all that). I think every child sees a part of themselves in their heroes and wishes one day that they can have someone look up to them, just as they do. 

Now becoming famous is not an easy thing, and what even is fame? I mean you are only as famous as the people who know you. I believe we could all have a list of 5 people we look up to (who are in a high-status position) and they would be “famous” to us, but our friends or family could walk past that person and have no idea who they are… apart from The Rock, I’m sure my 94-year-old nan knows who The Rock is. 

People become famous because they are good at something. Forget all the people who have cheated their way to the top. Let's just imagine (because it’s pretty true) that there is a genuine reason why someone has made their way to such status in society. They have done so because they are the best at their particular craft, if not the best they are up-and-coming, or they are in the top 25 in the world of their particular niche. 

So talent is what get’s someone there? Partly. You have to be good at marketing yourself. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? Double down on those strengths and improve your weaknesses. So talent and being marketable is the way to be famous? Well, you also need to be a nice person. People need to like you, enjoy your company, and listen to what you have to say because you're reasonable and trustworthy. And you also have to be attractive to a high percentage of people, or at least the way you look has to fit a specific market, and maybe you will even be the front runner in that market. Think about it, the world was all low-cut jeans and small bums until The Kardashians made (some suggest literally) big butts, a thing. What is deemed fissionable changes and what is appealing also changes because of popular culture. And what is fame if it is not someone who IS popular culture? 

Talent. Marketable. Likeable. Attractive. The 4 simple things that make someone famous. Relatable. Thats the 5th, you have to be relatable in some way shape or form, you have to either depict the classic hero’s tale. Cue drake… “Started…”

Okay so we know how to do it, you need 5 things. Now, how do YOU become famous? You have to stop worrying about celebrities, the news and the latest Netflix series. You don’t have to completely discard it but you have to realise one key thing. 

“Life is short, the art long.” - Hippocrates

There is no time to waste. You should be in a rush. You should realise how finite this time is and if you are to achieve something, you are going to have to get a move on. 

As much as I have talked about fame I want to talk about your own life, not how to become famous. But how to become the best version of yourself. Because both require the same thing, a clear aim, a plan and hard work. If you can get those 3 things down, you can achieve anything. You need a clear aim. Whom are you going to be? Whom could you be if you tried hard enough? You could be anyone. But remember the art is long, be patient.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs talks about Self-actualisation. What is Self-actualisation? It is “The realisation and fulfilment of one’s talents” - It is allowing yourself to dream about who you could be, and working hard to be the best you could be. It is what we should all be striving for, it is the purpose, it is drive. “How do I get motivated?” This is how you do it, you realise who you could be, and you work your hardest to get there.

There is not a lot of time in life and we can not all become The Rock. But we all have the choice. Do we worry about the larger world? the news? the celeb gossip and consume ourselves with the lives of influencers and stars? Or do we decide to be the best we can be? Do we decide to spend 30 minutes a day reading? 1 hour a day working on physical bodies. 10 minutes before we nod off to reflect on who are. Do we make the choice to not watch 4 hours of TV, but to watch 2 hours, and spend the other two trying to be the best we could be? 

My parents would watch hours of tv and I thought it was a waste. Other family members would spend their time intoxicated. Others were obsessed with the news. Now I’m not saying this is wrong, and that I am right. But I am telling you if you want to be someone you have to stop wasting time, and start working towards being that person you know you could be. You have to decide if you are going to be a consumer or are you going to be a creator. Are you going to be someone who adds to society? You could change the course of this world if you saw your untapped potential.  

So i’m not suggesting we make the rash decision to wake up at 4:30 like Jocko Willink or go workout under a gazebo at 5am like The Rock. I’m talking about making the smallest change. What small change could make the biggest impact? And remember there is an upper limit to being productive, you can’t work 24 hours a day, no matter what Molly May suggests. We all have 24 hours but we all have different lives, needs, and starting points. And for some working fewer hours means they can be more productive, the trade-off of getting up at 4 am to get the work done, but then being too tired to do anything. Or do you get up at 8 and not have enough time to do what you need to? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. But if you spend too long focusing on other people and not chasing down the person you could be, you will not achieve what you could. 

So from what I have witnessed the only way you can become famous is to be the best version of yourself, you won’t become The Rock, or Elvis or David Beckham, but you could become you. You could become someone, famous, to the people who know and need you. You could impact someone’s life and have made a difference in this world. Don’t be fixated on other people's views of you, be fixated on being better than you currently are, so you can leave this place better than you found it. 

Stop worrying about the news, celebrities and all the other time-sucking distractions. Worry about your own life first!