How to Become a MegaStar — And What it Takes to Become More Than Elite

Greetings Friend,

Welcome to part 3 of the unofficial series of ‘long-term life success strategies‘.

Look, if you want to make good money (and achieve worldly fame). . .

. . .You need to find out what you’re good at, and practice until you:

Become elite at what you do, if there’s a lot of competition in that field. Like in sports

Or,

Become “good enough” at at least one thing and leverage social proof like crazy, If you’re in a semi-competitive traditional industry

You will need to fulfill at least one of those criteria if you want to make good money and become famous.

But what if you want to be more than “just elite” — as in being the #1 most paid and famous person in your industry?

Well, in that case, taking shortcuts on your way to “experthood” is not going to cut it. Not even by a long-shot.

You need more than that, and there’s one thing in particular that you need.

You need. . .

Lots of People to Care About You

And you can learn a lot about this from watching the movie Gladiator.

Proximo: “I wasn’t the best because I killed quickly… I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd — and you’ll win your freedom.”

 

In the clip, Proximo is being poetic and reminiscing about his glory days. But if you distill what he’s saying into a general principle, it would be this:

People don’t care about you. People care about what you can do for them.

And with that principle comes some important implications, such as. . .

. . .When people know you can do things for them, there’s a different set of rules compared to when they don’t.

Once people are emotionally invested in you (your ideas, brand, product, etc.) and they care about you, you can start doing things differently.

Let’s take blogging as an example. No one cares about some unknown person writing his or her memoirs online, especially if it’s done to in a validation-seeking manner.

People (fans) would care if someone famous did it, but if a normal person did something like that, and hoped for it to become some sort of financial success, that would be insane. Yet, you see a lot of people doing this.

For instance, I actually met a lady who had done this. And she wondered why no one was reading her blog/memoirs and her book, which was about how she walked across Nevada and had a religious experience (I swear, I’m not making this stuff up).

Well, the reason no one read her blog was because no one cared. Why should they care? She hadn’t provided any value. Nor had she entertained anyone. She was “playing the game” as if she were a celebrity — as if she already had people who were emotionally invested into her stuff. . .

. . .So, of course it didn’t work out.

Normal people (non-celebrities) have to work for a while to build a track record before anything else. Then, if they’re skilled and lucky, people will start caring about them and their projects (blog, business, ideas, products) and their lives.

And this is the reason why I started off SGM as being very impersonal. Because I didn’t have any readership. I knew people didn’t care about me. I knew they just wanted to be helped, entertained, or learn interesting stuff.

Then eventually, because I put out helpful content, some people started coming back. They started buying into some of my ideas, and as a result they also became more interested in me.

That’s why I’m now taking a more personal approach to my writing, and to SGM in general (and after having received helpful advice from a lot of intelligent readers).

Alright. Back to Gladiator…

. . .Why is it that people started caring so much about Maximus?

Because He Learned to Entertain Them.

 Proximo: “All you do is kill, kill, kill. The crowd don’t want a butcher, they want a hero. You want them to keep coming back.  So don’t just hack’em to pieces. Remember, you are an entertainer!”

[Note: No need to watch longer than 36 seconds.]

 

Maximus is entering a fight to the death –alone–facing several opponents. . .

. . .And Proximo just tells him to focus on being entertaining. Because he knows something: Showmanship is the most important thing for winning over the crowd.

And that wasn’t just the case for Roman gladiators.

Showmanship is just as important for most modern athletes, actors, TV people, and A-list celebrities. Because if you think about it. . .

How Many Celebrities Are Elite at What They Do?

Most well-paid professional athletes — and other people like actors, movie stars, and musicians — who enjoy the superstar effect, are rarely truly elite. Elite as in being the best in their industry at what they do.

Sometimes they are, as in the case of Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, And Usain Bolt.

But most of the time they aren’t.

Is Justin Bieber an elite musician? He’s made over $80M this year.

Is Adam Sandler an elite actor? He’s made $37M this year.

Is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson an elite actor? He’s made $46M this year.

So you see. . .

. . .It’s not necessarily the ones who are best at what they do who make the most money or become the most famous. It’s the best showmen — the ones who are considered entertaining by the largest amount of people — who get the cake.

Of course, those guys are still good/great at what they do, but I would hardly say that they’re elite.

Anyway, the fact that they make such huge sums of money proves something. It proves how important entertainment has become in modern culture. And how valuable it has become. . .

Seriously,

We Live in a Weird (And Interesting) Society

And there are some crazy examples out there.

Think about it. . .

. . .If you went back in time 200+ years and met with the wisest, most experienced, and most well-read people who were living at that time. Guys like Napoleon, George Bernard Shaw, or Andrew Carnegie. And you asked them about the future.

Do you think they would’ve been able to predict Radio, TV, or the Internet?

Nope.

“I make THE most scrumptious pizza — and people love to WATCH as I make ‘em!”
Photograph: Richard Austin/Rex Features

Do you think they would’ve been able to predict that we would now have celebrity chefs, Nanny experts, famous cooking judges, American Idols, Big Brother celebrities, Kim Kardashians, and other people who got rich and famous just for being on TV?

Hell no.

No one could have predicted that we would invent technology, which would then be used by these type of people, and catapult them to the top of the social hierarchy. Because. . .

200+ Years Ago These People Were Either The Town Fools, Or They Belonged To The Servant Classes

If they lived 200 years ago, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey wouldn’t be nearly as successful as they are today. At best, they might’ve become personal chefs for a king.

The same thing can be said about actors and “celebrities”. At best, these people would become popular court jesters. At worst, they would starve to death. And if the jesters weren’t truly elite — entertaining — they could get beaten or killed.

Startgainingmomentum.