Of Characters and Personalities......

Ever noticed that during the course of your daily life, be it in work or in school, there is always this particular someone who seems to stand out from the rest? This someone, or a few more others, are constantly being noticed, constantly being spoke of, constantly being the star or xfactor of the place?

Ever wondered why is this so? Perhaps its their personality, their character, their dress sense, their pretty long legs and huge..errhem.... More so, in general, its just the way they carry or project themselves to the surrounding people, people like us who can't keep our eyes affixed to people like them.


Here is an interesting worldview from me:

The world is actually a stage of projection. We are all performers on the stage as well as audiences off the stage. Being audiences, we are subjected to the performance put up and are receptive to the feelings, thoughts, emotions induced in us by them. As performers, we have the capability to do so to others, especially to the audiences.

How is this analogy related to us? or in our daily life? Some simple examples may help assist:

1) A lecturer presenting his material to a class is the most direct example. The lecturer, a performer, uses his prior knowledge and qualification to seek to impart them to the students, who are audiences.

2) A military leader leading his men to war is another example. The leader performs his leadership abilities, his motivational skills and his field knowledge to seek to influence his men to fight with him.

3) In the initial process of courtship, both parties tries to put on their best side of themselves to seek to impress the other party. Nicely combed hair, cologne, perfume, lipstick and gloss and all that. In this sense, both are performers as well as audiences.


The 3 examples are not exhaustive though, as such occurences happen on a daily basis.

The world is a place where people react to performances. How you portray yourself on a daily basis, be it subconsciously or consciously, will affect people's views and judgement about you. In analogical term, the way you perform on the world stage will invoke a certain response from the audience, people who surrounds you in your daily life.

Lets see some examples:

1) you are a very pessimistic person who has a very negative outlook on life. You portray a sad look even though you dont realise it consciously, and every word you speak of goes along the line of "sian ah...life sucks,,sch sucks...i hate people...i hate this and that". This is your performance script, and the resulting response can be pretty clear cut. People will steer clear from you because you are just plain negative.

2) You are a very cheerful and warm person. Friendly in all aspects, always helping and smiling. It is reasonably clear that you will be a rather well-liked person.

3) You are a hypocrite, and irritates the hell out of people. You are playing the bad role of a bad performance, and of course like all serial dramas, we all hate the bad guy.


My point is, people do judge you and react accordingly to how you portray yourselves out there, out in the society. Even though there is a saying "don't judge a book by its cover", the fact is that people DO judge a book by its cover, YOUR cover that is. This is why first impression counts alot during interviews.

Another interesting point is that if you are a performer who is very skilled, and knows how to ellicit a certain response by acting in a certain manner, then you have the ability to very well control the crowd, affect their moods, alter their thoughts in the manner you like. This is a very powerful tool to master, and being conscious of how you portray yourself is the first step of understanding this logic. The art of leadership is a great example. This is why great leaders are able to acheive, because they know the dynamics of making things and people work. Of course, all knowledge can be put into bad use, and with regards to this, I shall not write further.

Tip: if you are wondering why people are treating you like shit, maybe the problem lies deep within you. Prepare a new script, and start performing and portraying a better side of you.