How to be the person you want to be

Aren’t the best advisors enthusiastic, caring, thoughtful, helpful, creative, authoritative, well-spoken, and professional – among other great traits?

But what if you don’t FEEL you are those things, but you want to be? What’s the key to changing to be that new person we aspire to?

Actor Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame once said that the key to being an actor was ACTING the part you were playing. The idea was that feelings would follow actions - Act it, then feel it, and then be it.

Isn’t it the same in the life insurance business? I can recall a speaker years ago saying: “If you want to be enthusiastic, act it” - while clapping your hands together hard enough so they stung. The stinging would be an ongoing reminder.

That makes sense for enthusiasm, but wouldn’t it be the same for other character traits? Couldn’t you tell yourself: If you want to be caring, act it! And, if you want to be thoughtful, act it. If you want to be helpful, act it. If you want to be creative, act it. If you want to be authoritative, act it. Well-spoken? Act it. Professional? Act it!

Hey, I bet that as I was listing the “Act its” just now you immediately thought about what that acting looked like to you. (Even I did!) I believe that we all know what these traits look like because we recognize them when we see them.

So, is it really much of a leap to think what you want to be and then to ACT that way? Act it and you will be it?

The key to changing who you are and how you behave is to act the way you want to be well enough and long enough that you become it. All meaningful change starts with wanting to change. Then - acting it out every single day.