IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I love to ask people this question. It allows me to understand their creative and philosophical perspective while getting to know a little bit more about them as an individual.
I used to do a lot if interviewing for a sales and marketing firm, and this was a question I would ask every candidate I interviewed. It was a fun way to dig into the psyche of the applicant while disarming them and making the conversation instantly interesting.
It was always fun to watch them react because it is not a question anyone expects to be asked during a job interview. It’s not a question you prepare for, and definitely not a question you expect to answer at an interview for a entry level sales job.
THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT A GREAT QUESTION
If asking someone where they want to be in 5 years is a typical interview question, then asking them about an imaginary super power is a super-question.
It allows me to immediately gauge how they react to the unknown.
It allows me to understand how quickly they can run through their creative decision making process while letting me see how creative they can actually be on the fly.
Letting them pick a a super power is never enough though. I always follow up by asking why they want that particular superpower.
THE BEAUTY OF THIS QUESTION IS ALWAYS IN THE WHY…
I am not interviewing you for a job, but I am challenging you with the same question. If you could pick a superpower, what would it be? What would you do with it?
Why would you pick that superpower?
Would you use your power for good or evil? Do you want to fly so that you can see the world, or do you want to be invisible so you can sneak into the girls locker room undetected?
I know you aren’t all out there thinking about saving the world with your super powers so be honest with yourself. You know you have those dark thoughts inside of you. The ones that make you do all the shit you hate about yourself. The thoughts that you cannot control at times, even though you mostly do.
No sense in lying here. It is not like your job depends on it. And we are just thinking in our own heads, so why lie?
Me? I think about stopping time so I can rob a bank.
I think about it all the time.
I probably think about robbing banks more than anyone should. I have imagined detailed getaway plans, high-speed chases, and complicated cons for how to maximize the score and diminish the potential of failure.
That doesn’t mean it will ever happen. It doesn’t mean I am going to ever execute the plan but there is something that comes with understanding that part of yourself that is vital to claiming your real world superpower.
Understanding and embracing this side of my brain has allowed me to understand my thought process It has allowed me to understand myself. My true self. Not the pretend me that I so often project to the world.
IS THIS DUDE REALLY TALKING ABOUT SUPERPOWERS?
Yes, I am.
I meet people with real life superpowers every day. People who are pushing themselves to do amazing things in spite of everything around them pushing against their progress.
I even see people who think they are average when the truth is that they have just not yet discovered what the extent of their true superpowers actually are. Unable to understand that we all have a superpower hidden inside us. Something we each have to discover on our own.
LET ME EXPLAIN
Have you ever met anyone with real life superpowers? Someone who seemed to be bullet-proof, always on the right side of fortune and amazingly efficient in their daily tasks. Never sad, hurt, angry or annoyed. Just calm, alert, prepared, and able to adapt to anything that comes their way.
The guy that always has the right answer, always knows what to do next. Ready at a moment’s notice, to run off and fight the villains of life.
The guy that gets all the girls. The girl who owns the sales floor, the quarterback who makes all the throws…
You look at these people and wonder how they do it, how they get it all done. How do they outperform you at work, on the court, in the gym and at life in general?
For some reason, no matter how nice you are and how good you live you just can’t seem to crawl out from under your rock.
You feel like no matter how hard you try or how good you become at whatever you do there will always be someone better than you so you do not push. You do not strive for excellence.
You think the world is always one step ahead and always out of reach.
You think that the system is holding you down so “why bother?”.
Well… I say fuck that! I say forget about those people and quit comparing yourself to them.
Quit thinking that anything in life is fair, or supposed to be easy. Quit thinking that you will be successful simply because you are a good person or because you deserve it.
Quit thinking anyone owes you anything, should buy you a present, do something nice for you, or even care about how you feel. Instead you need to take control of the way you react to the world around you
It is up to you to decide when, where, why, and how you take off the tie, rip open your shirt and strip down to your tights. Because until you can look at yourself in the mirror and love what you see you will never find your real world superpower, let alone have a shot at being happy in life.
And in this mindset, no one can ever truly love you. Not because they can’t, but because if you do not love yourself, they will never have a chance to love you. Instead they will have fallen in love with your facade and when it vanishes, so will they.
SHAME ON YOU…
For holding other people up as more than human.
For thinking that you are not capable of doing everything you dream you can do. Everything you know you can do. From unleashing the monster inside you. The monster that the world might hate but you might love.
The monster you feel inside of you. Stirring. Waiting for you to set it free. Begging you to give in and let it help you become the person you always wanted to be.
For thinking that because someone has a little more money than you or a little more opportunity handed to them here and there that they are somehow better than you. For giving up hope in the fact that you can go and create value in this world and change your circumstance.
For forgetting that this is still America.
For forgetting that this is still a place where risk, hard work and determination are still rewarded. That this is a place where the underdog always has a chance and where the little guy is always the crowd favorite.
I don’t care what color you are or where you come from, if you wake up each day and bust your ass for something you believe in then no one can stand in your way.
You can still go out and make a difference in your own life and the lives of the people around you.
You can go be anyone, or anything, you want to be; so quit acting like a little bitch and grab your damn cape!
THE MUTATIONS
I can’t tell you where to find your super power or what specifically it is but I can guide you with examples of super powers I have encountered in this game called life.
When you finally discover your super power you will wonder what the heck took you so long and how you ever got along without it.
Control Time
No one is punctual anymore. Seriously… whats up with that?
It used to be a social taboo to show up late and now it seems that being late is the norm.
Some of my friends call it BPT which stands for Black People Time but we used to joke about Puerto Ricans always being late long before I found out what that was. My dad (born Puerto Rican) was adamant about us being on time. He used to tell me how much he hated people being late, especially other Latin people. It was a matter of pride. It was a matter of him honoring his word. That always struck a chord with me and has stayed with me to this date.
No matter what your race or what your excuse, being late is something you CAN control. Don’t give me the “I just can’t help it” excuse, because you and I both know it’s full of shit.
I get it. You slept in, forgot, or whatever but just fess up. We all do it. Don’t make a habit of it and make an effort to maximize the time you do spend working on your dream as well as for others.
And for gods sake, when you are with someone, make them feel like you are with them. Not in another galaxy, on your computer or on your phone. I know we can all say amen to that!
Fly:
So many people restrict their ability to succeed in life by throwing hurdles in front of themselves.
We all know someone like this; I am sure of it. That person who has all the potential in the world but never seems to be doing anything with it.
The person who always has an excuse for why things are not going their way. Maybe they need to “go back to school” or they “need an investor to fund their idea”.
These people will never fly because they are always looking at things from a negative light. They are always looking for reasons why something will not work as opposed to looking for the things that will work.
If you want to fly, you have to look for opportunities. You have to look for opportunities to try as opposed to focusing on the reasons why you will fail. Just go do something. Google it. YouTube it. Learn a new skill. Pick up a new hobby. Create something from scratch.
You will be amazed at what you can learn for free these days and if you really want to fly, then set yourself free. Don’t listen to the people around you who are weighed down with the same self imposed constraints that you are trying to leave behind.
Become A Shape Shifter:
The easiest things to break in life are rigid. Think glass vs Plexiglas. Why do you think they put rebar in concrete? So that the structure can flex and not crumble. It adds flexibility to reinforce the concrete.
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” Bruce Lee
Being flexible in life allows you to change and adapt. As an individual, you have something that the large organizations can never have; the ability to change strategies and turn on a dime. With this skill you can learn, adapt, perform and grow on the fly. Always one step ahead of everyone else.
Become Bullet-proof:
Walk free in the world, by becoming comfortable with your flaws.
Quit hiding them from yourself and your friends.
Quit pretending you are perfect and then you can finally quit expecting the world to see you that way.
We give the people around us so much power over our lives by letting their opinions influence our decision, buying behaviors, sexual experiences and personal relationships. Learn to stand up for yourself. Learn to think for yourself.
Learn to love yourself because without that no one can ever love you. Sure you can try and it will feel good for a while but it always comes out. We always crack.
You know what I am talking about. Maybe you are there right now. Maybe you feel like a house of cards, waiting for the whole thing to come crumbling down. Waiting for the straw that breaks the camels back.
Maybe you cant see it. Maybe you are clueless to the possibility of collapse, which is the worst of all possibilities, but be warned, the world is trying to break you.
The world will put you in the corner and beat on you until you tap out or come out swinging.
There is no referee. There is no bell; no buzzer to save you from this beat down.
But you can fight back. You don’t have to just sit there and take it.
You can protect yourself. You can grab a shield and defend against the constant attack of your self worth.
You can claim your super power.
You can say to yourself that you will no longer stand on the sideline and watch as our culture is destroyed.
COME ON MAN, GET REAL!
I know people don’t really have super powers (I love me some X-men though).
I know that humans will probably never (not in my lifetime at least) be able to shape-shift, fly independently, travel through, or control time.
I just want you to see that more often than not, success comes through hard work and dedication. Not luck. Not government, not Jesus, not Allah and not your mamma!
It is up to you!
Why wouldn’t you want to achieve something with your life. Why shouldn’t you have dreams and goals? Why shouldn’t you learn how to live with nothing in order to understand the value of having it all.
Being given nice things might feel good and living in wealth is definitely appealing but I have to imagine that creating wealth is much more fulfilling. I have to believe that building something for yourself, something that you can call your own has to be exponentially more rewarding.
IT’S NEVER THE IDEA; IT’S THE EXECUTION
Going out and setting your mind to something and then getting it done is definitely something to get excited about. It is something you should be rewarded for. Who are we to set a cap on that reward?
Who are we to judge anyone else for what they have; to pretend like we know what it took for them to get it.
Who are we to covet their possessions; to force upon them your perception of what a fair share should be when you are unwilling to contribute any share at all.
Why not use their success as inspiration towards the next level of success in whatever it is that defines the boundaries of your life.
To conquer one thing in life and then pick something else. And then something else. And on and on, until you are a transformer of talent. A candidate so unemployable that you have to start your own company.
Because you will always feel undervalued when you finally discover what you’re actually worth.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
You never know what you might inspire someone to do if you just did a little more yourself.
If you stopped worrying about the rest of the world and just worried about you.
You might just use one of your super powers to save someones life. One day at a time.
You might just be the very reason why someone else is living their life, so how dare you give up on yours?
SO I’LL ASK YOU AGAIN…
If you could have any super power… What would it be?