“There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.” – Salvador Dali
Before Salvador Dali became famous, he often signed restaurant cheques without paying.
His reason:
“Someday this signature will be worth far more than the meal.”
Imagine being his waiter:
You feed your family with the income you make from tips, and some dopey-looking mustached mfxer you’ve never heard of leaves you his autograph instead.
Now imagine you keep his signature, just in case.
And, ten years later, you buy yourself a damn house with it.
Mustache doesn’t look so dopey now, does it?
Of course, dining and dashing is still a dick move.
And leaving your autograph instead of cash is unforgivably arrogant.
But damn if it isn’t also kinda gangster.
I’m sharing this story as an extreme example of a principle that came up on a recent Path AMA call:
False humility is a lie.
Reducing yourself, hiding your accomplishments, shrinking to avoid threatening others, pretending you’re less than you really are…
…Is just as dishonest as over-inflating yourself.
The only truthful response is the truth.
No more, no less.
Of course, Salvador wildly over-inflated the value of his signature, which wasn’t worth the paper it was written on until years later.
(it only became true later on, which means it was still a lie in the moment)
So I’ll leave you with one more example, before we wrap:
A few years back, Billie Eilish cleaned out the Grammys, taking home five of the six awards she was nominated for.
Each time her name was called, she would blush and look away in embarrassment:
Shy, almost afraid to dominate the spotlight.
The next day, Alicia Keys called her and said:
”Never apologize for being dope.”
In other words:
Never say you’re greater than you are.
But never say you’re not as great as you are, either.
And never, ever leave without leaving a tip.
- T
P.S. Meanwhile, on X…
I just answered the (weird) question:
”Will meditation make me more money?”
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