Act Like You’re Famous. Feel Like You’re Rich.

Having fame and fortune doesn’t mean anything by itself. You think you want it, but rarely think about why you want it. What will you be able to act like when you’re famous? What will you feel like when you are rich? If you focus more on these actions and feelings, perhaps you can benefit now instead of deferring your happiness waiting for an uncertain future. Here are some ideas to get you warmed up.

Act Like You’re Famous
How would a famous person approach socializing, commuting, chores, etc?

1. When you go out in frumpy clothes you can pretend you are hiding from the paparazzi.
2. Expect good service. If you were famous, you’d expect it naturally. But everyone should expect it.
3. Wear dark glasses when you leave the house and don’t take them off. Ever.
4. Pretend your maid or nanny is sick and you are just ‘slumming it’ with the kids/pets.
5. Act like your friends are really your ‘assistants’. Try asking them to carry things, take notes, or cut your food.
6. Be important. Not an ass, but important. Talk to everybody politely. Talk to everyone like they work for you.
7. Find things to be ‘quirky’ about— for instance maybe on Wednesdays you only eat food that is blue.
8. Blurt out catch phrases like, “That’s so wizard” and give people knowing looks as if to say, “I started that meme.”
   
9. Hide your face behind your hand, newspapers, etc whenever mobs of people go by. Especially young, good-looking people.
10. Name drop in casual conversation. Say things like, “Jordan doesn’t like this kind of fish.” When people ask who Jordan is, say, “You know. Jordan.”

Feel Like You’re Rich
How would an independently wealthy person approach career, hobbies, relationships, and relaxation?

1. Spend more time doing what you love to do. Is that so difficult?
2. Stop worrying about your job. Pretend you do it because you love it, not because you are obligated.
3. Don’t spend time worrying about your possessions. Pretend you can replace anything. Besides, you can’t take it with you.
4. Say rich things like, “Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you things that make you happy.”
5. Say rich things like, “If you have to look at the price, you can’t afford it.”
6. Wear a cheap suit because it’s ‘ironic’.
7. Write a will where you leave $50,000,000 to your cat.
8. Instead of being envious of people with luxury items like expensive cars or watches, practice feeling pity. Pretend you have exclusive, custom made, hand-crafted items that cannot be bought, and won’t exist for others until they go to auction after your death.
9. Tell people that they are looking at the world’s first future trillionaire. Tell them that your accountant needs an accountant. Tell them that it costs you thirty-thousand, nine-hundred ninty-nine dollars and ninty-nine cents just to stoop down and pick up a penny.
10. Buy stock— even if it’s just one stock. Then you can say you ‘own’ microsoft or apple or ibm. And it’ll be true!

If you take on some of these characteristics in your day-to-day life it does a few things: it injects some humour, it causes you to relax a bit, and it reminds you that so much of what we experience is a matter of perpective. Regardless of what materials you possess or who people percieve you to be, you can alter how you look at your own life. I’m not condoning delusion, but I am giving you permission to use your imagination again. When we were kids we pretended to be all the things we wanted to be. Why did we stop?