There are two principles here:
1. You are the hero of your own story. No one else is going to slay the dragon for you. If they do, it was their dragon and their book; not yours. If you want to be successful, YOU have to go out and make that happen. Sure, you can get some help along the way. There can be (and should be) well developed supporting characters that help you on your adventure--even The Lone Ranger had Tonto (as Dave Ramsey sometimes says). But, in the end, as one of my patients used to say, "you are the hero of your own story." What is your story going to be about?
2. If you are the hero of your own story, that means everybody else is the hero of their own stories too. In case you didn't quite catch it, that means that the best you will ever be in someone else's book, is a strong supporting actor. The worst you will be is the antagonist. Don't be someone's antagonist unless it is because you are just being awesome and they are being lame. In other words don't intentionally be antagonistic. In any exchange between two or more people, there are two or more books being written. No matter how awesome you are (or how lame they are), the other person's book is about them. Your book is about you. The best possible outcome is that you are both each others' strong supporting actors, or at least a good cameo.
Dale Carnegie puts it this way, "Remember that the people you are talking to are a hundred times more interested in themselves and their wants and problems than they are in you and your problems." (How to Win Friends & Influence People, Pocket Books paper back edition May 2010, p. 93)
In other words, it's not always about you...or is it? I guess in one book it always is about me...make it a good book!
Anyway, thanks for sharing this part of my book with me. Now it's a part of your book too. mwaa haa haa.
