Many people, including me, are dissatisfied with who they are or how they act. But wherever a person is in his character; he is not limited in what he may become. He can become something more, better, or different; he can become something stronger, surer, or steadier. The best a person may become lies within her own heart, mind, and soul, and while her potential may not come forth easily, she can manifest it by will and practice.*
Once the whirlwind passes, those who delight in living wrongly will be gone, but those who consistently do rightly will be established forever
—King Solomon, Wisdom Teacher
The way to establish yourself as a person of character and integrity, a stabilizing force who can’t be moved even by a whirlwind, is to consistently do rightly. William James, one of the first self-improvement authors, put it his way: “If you want a quality, act as if you already have it.”
Act as if. You have probably heard these three words before. If we take the most obvious meaning, there is no great mystery: Act as if you already are what you want to be. What quality do you want to possess? Get that image in your mind, then act as though you already have it, even when (especially when) you don’t feel like it.
By acting as if, you’re seeking to become what you want to be by reinforcing the behaviors that will get you there. For instance, do you wish to be a healthier person? What would that person do? What would she eat? How often would she exercise? That’s what you do now and tomorrow.
Is there any area of your life that you would like to change today? If so, are you willing to live as if you’ve already changed?
The reward for this intentional role-playing comes when you see that you’re no longer acting but that you have grown into the new quality or identity. Act as if, moment by moment, and sooner than you may think, you won’t be acting anymore. You will have become what you wanted to become—established as that person forever.
The emptiness of living according to our baser selves should move us out of our complacency and enable us to see the wonderful vision of what we can become. This present reality is too short for our vast individual and collective possibilities to be fully realized.† But let’s realize all we can while we may—the whirlwinds are coming.
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