The only way to make it out alive is to live as only you can live. 

There is nothing new about wanting to be famous.

Eighty years ago you would see James Dean on the big screen and idolise him, want to be him and wish you were as cool as him. But you didn’t look like him and you weren’t as talented as him and you didn’t imagine you could be as famous as him by just copying what he did. 

Today, that’s exactly how people believe they can become famous; by copying what other famous people do. The tricky part is how we’re experiencing fame. In the golden age of film and music, there were a handful of people around the world who were considered famous. Today there are literally tens of thousands of people who have bigger audiences than the stars of yesteryear.

Think I’m kidding? Here are just a few to get you thinking:  

• David Dobrik — 16.1m YouTube followers

• Charlie D’amelio — 60m+ TikTok followers and 1.8bn likes (she’s 15 years old)

• Casey Neistate — 11.9m YouTube followers through his daily vlogging

• Lilly Singh — 14.9m YouTube followers

• KSI — 19m YouTube followers

• MKBHD — 11m Instagram followers

• Liza Koshy—18m Instagram followers.

• Jasmine Brown - 2.4m Youtube followers

These are regular people.

There really isn’t anything too unique about them yet these people each have an audience larger than the size of New York. Give that some thought.

We believe that media outlets influence our lives, they do, of coufse but not nearly as much as the famous people on social media these days.

I have been using TikTok recently and it’s been a trip, let me tell you. It’s filled with young people being themselves and getting famous for it. Never before have we seen a platform that can turn a simple 15 or 60-second video into a career of fame and fortune so quickly. You can post something unique and interesting and reach 1 million likes in a day. It’s insane. I posted a video of my one hand washing a tap and it received over 30 000 views in a week. My hand washed a tap for fuck sakes.

The people succeeding on these platforms (InstaFaceTokTube), the ones who are really leading the way, are being themselves. They are being the most version of themselves that they can be. 

Everyone else is following or copying them.

Everyone else is following and copying because social media lets us believe that we are just like Charlie with her 60m followers. She’s just a kid who likes dancing. Young people see her and think to themselves “Hey, I’m a kid, I like dancing, I can do that.” And then get all pissy that they aren’t famous after a single upload. 

There are copycats, of course. And there are people who can dance better than Charlie or put on makeup better than so and so or kick a ball better than blah blah blah. Sure, but if it isn’t your thing then it isn’t the most version of you and you’re fucked. 

Acting like something is not the same as being that thing. 

Faking a passion for dancing isn’t going to make you a famous dancer. Faking an obsession for cooking wont make you a famous chef.

Let’s take a look at Finlidrappermusic’s account. This guy is a drummer and all-rounder musician. He’s incredibly gifted and likes to play songs using glasses of water that are filled up to make different sounds. He could’ve just set up his drumkit and played drums and then posted to TikTok, but he didn’t. He chose to be the most version of himself that he could be. He didn’t look to anyone else, he just did the thing that he was doing and people loved it. 

There are examples of this all over the world and throughout time. Yes copycats exit and yes they can make a lot of money doing what they do (copy) and do it well. But the ultimate question lies in front of them: Are they happy?

Probably not. Acting all day on social media and in life is hard work and tiring work and frustrating work.

Being yourself is not hard work. It’s hard work to get yourself out there and help people discover you. It’s hard work to become the best and refine your skills but it isn’t anywhere as difficult as being a worse version of someone else.

And here’s the thing, the people that I respect and admire the most in the world are not the ones with the most money or the biggest business or the fanciest houses. The people that I respect are the ones who know who they are and live accordingly every single day.