Get Your VIP Status

You were born a VIP!  You are capable of doing great things and being supportive of others. If you are skeptical, ask yourself how many times you have helped lost strangers find their way. How many times have you walked into stores, restaurants and cinemas, thus helping others stay in business?

Have you ever fed a dog, a cat, or a goldfish in your life? Were you not important to them during a moment of their lives? How many times have you comforted someone in distress? Are you not important to your kids, colleagues, friends, or neighbors? Your country? Yet many of us do not feel important. Why? Simply because our society has been using a grotesquely outdated instrument for measuring self-worth! Its instrument is a silly numbers game!

Imagine you are a wealthy person who has finally been accepted into a millionaires' club, only to discover a few weeks later that, in fact, you have joined a club of losers! There are a hundred millionaires in that club. You came in with a lousy million and are now feeling that you are not good enough because the guy next to you is worth two million. And when you share the dinner table with the richest member, who has a hundred million, you wish you had an extra few million and feel like an absolute nobody compared to that hundred-million man!

You are lost in your misery and not even aware that the richest man with whom you are sharing the table feels the same as you. He had to sneak in to the club situated on the 1st floor! He would have preferred to be seen riding the elevator to the top floor, where the billionaires' club is located!

So, do not compare yourself by playing that self-defeating numbers game, or you will forever feel a loser, an eternal wanna-be Somebody. In fact, you are and always will be a VIP, based on your intrinsic self-worth.

To remind yourself of your VIP status, draw a small inverted V-shaped triangle on the area between your thumb and forefinger or on the palm of your hand. At the top two extremities of the inverted triangle, insert an ''O'' for ''Oui'' (''Yes'' in French). At the bottom extremity, insert an ''N'' for ''Non'' (''No'' in French). So you now have a ''Oui-Oui-Non,'' (weeweenoo) or ''Yes-Yes-No''.

Each morning for an entire week, look at that triangle to remind you that yes, you are a very important person, and yes, others, too, are very important. Every person with whom you cross paths on the pavement is a VIP who can help you should you have an accident. He/she may also have contributed to your life in ways unknown to you. The man passing by you this morning could have been a musician playing in the band whose music you adore. Another could have been a fireman in your city. Yet another could have helped make that beautiful luggage you are so proud to own. Or, the person you saw in that red car could be your next client. Perhaps the young man you saw climbing on the bike is the chef who will prepare lunch for you one day.

"No, you do not want to be liked!''

The ''Non'' or ''No'' stands for a decision you make: ''No, you do not want to be liked!''. You need a ''Oui-Oui-Non'' to get your VIP status.

Not wanting to be liked does not prevent you from liking people, accepting compliments from others, or accepting people liking you. Since others are VIPs, you treat them with respect and care. You treat them with the same attention as you would like to be treated.

A ''No, you do not want to be liked!'' decision liberates you from what others would think of you. It gives you freedom of expression. It instills confidence and respect from others as you no longer submit to situations where you seek approbation.

''No, you do not want to be liked!'' frees you from a myriad of preoccupations. You are less fearful of failure or of making a fool of yourself, as you have decided you do not want to be liked. This enables you to be more creative and to maximize your potential.

This decision triggers a dynamic evolution towards mastery in yourself. For once in your life, you are no longer submissive or chained to desires for approval or acceptance by others. However, this does not mean that you should act like a rebel and flaunt all conventions or that you should be politically incorrect. It simply means you have now regained your real status as a VIP.

However, realizing that you are a VIP is not enough. You need to back it up with actions. Only sustainable actions, with that triangle to remind you each morning, will lead to a happier, fulfilling life.

This status allows you a 360 access to all people - those above you, those below you, and horizontally those across social and cultural spectrums. Your newfound commonality and confidence based on true evaluation of your potential as a human being provide a solid foundation for communicating with others.

Remember, too, that each time you feel good, hundreds or thousands of other VIPs have contributed to your well-being. Think of the beautiful sights or the wonderful tools at your disposal: that magical instrument called the mobile phone; that fast jet transporting you through the air; that piece of soothing symphony penetrating your ears; those objects displayed in the windows on Champs Elyses or Fifth Avenue; or a quiet, well-kept country lane for your legs to stroll on. Other VIPs like yourself have made all of this possible for you to enjoy.

The ''Oui-Oui-Non'' triangle is your psychological firewall against the attacks of adverse, negative thoughts. It is also a firepower to propel you to greater heights of self-accomplishment.

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