Arjun Khemani

We live in a world where people are constantly trying to “get better”. We want to become so-called professionals, or grandmasters if you like. And luckily or not, it has never been a greater time in history to be able to imitate the actions of people already in the world who are considered “professionals”. We live in the influential era. We hear famous athletes giving their inspiring speeches about hard work and mental power. Influencers talking about success and whatnot.
People want to become the next Muhammad Ali and the next Mark Zuckerberg instead of being the first of their own names.

It’s strange but it feels like everyone is trying to be someone else, someone else who is better than themselves. I understand that knowledge is universal. No one can truly be themselves. Our values are shaped by our immediate environment and it must be that way. Seriously, think about a world where no one understands one another, we don’t want that! But now, we are crossing the extent to which we are influenced by our environment. Thanks to our new virtual social connection, we can learn about the lives of millions of amazing people, and compare them with ours. When we see them really “living”, we try to be like them.

Ideas are imitated, content is imitated, if that and among others weren’t enough, people are imitating and being imitated.

But what many really don’t understand—even if they may be aware of—is that being oneself can actually make you better than trying to be a copy in this diverse world. Improving on thyself is a much better strategy than trying to become someone else. Many people underestimate their own “powers” which make them feel they aren’t “gifted” enough and so try and imitate the traits of others. But that’s not true. We become biased even while looking at our own self. Intriguing, human psychology is. Why try to become someone else if you have your own powers?

And it may take some time to understand through your own observation, that being allowed to be yourself is actually one of the greatest freedoms in the world. And you’ll also notice that you can be a professional, you can be the greatest, and you can be the grandmaster … by being yourself.