How To Do What’s Never Been Done
In discussing modeling, someone said that it wouldn't work because they are doing something unique.
Really? Well, COUNTLESS times in human history human beings have done new and unique things. Guess what? You can study them, and see what emotional and mental structures and strategies they needed to be explorers.
When I set out to be a black SF writer, I didn't know of any others. No pictures on book-covers or in any industry magazines that I could see. Does that mean I couldn't model? Heck, no.
I just
Modeled successful writers
Modeled successful SF writers
Modeled black people who had been successful in other artistic fields
Modeled black MEN specifically who had been successful.
In studying these sets, I looked at at least three different people in each category.
What successful writers did led to the Lifewriting 6-Step process we teach to this day.
Successful SF writers understood some specific sets of extrapolative strategies, as well as specializing in some aspect of the sciences (successful writers in general often had specialized knowledge they repeatedly wove into their stories. Mark Twain and the Mississippi, for instance)
Black people successful in the arts had some aspects that were the same as artists of any race: obsessive practice, finding mentors, etc. With the added "tax" of having to find allies in the white community. This is tricky, but it wasn't THAT different from the problems of outsiders in any context. Let's say there seemed to be a 50% tax, that I would have to be 150% as good to get 100% of the results. That was discouraging, but previous generations had paid a higher tax, so I had to either make my peace with that or find another path.
An additional aspect, one rarely admitted, is the specific issue of sexual competition that relates to that tribal identity thing. I couldn't be too aggressive, or I'd trigger the "threat" assessment. My answer was to refine my personality until it loomed larger than my ethnicity. There was going to be a real difference between "Steven Barnes, science fiction writer…who is black" and "Steven Barnes, black science fiction writer." Worst of all would be "Black Steven Barnes, science fiction writer." Very difficult balancing act, but if I don't figure it out, I'll be spitting in the face of my inner child, and forgetting the face of my father.
The MORE unique the challenge, the more I'd tend to model pioneers in multiple arenas, and see what they had in common. I can promise that it would be some combination of the M.A.G.I.C. formula process, or the "High Performance Habits" or "Think and Grow Rich" and so forth.
If I don't know what challenges I will face along the way, then I'll set out to be as positive, resiliant, and active as possible. I'd refine my ability to SELL AND MARKET, because I'll inevitably have to enroll people to help me: employers, customers, team-members, employees, bureaucrats, legislators, investors, or whatever.
There simply IS NO HUMAN BEHAVIOR that doesn't relate to previous actions, feelings, concepts, or whatever. The more specifically you can model, the better off you are, of course. But energy, behavioral flexibility, team-building, courage and so forth are universal requirements. CLARITY is a universal requirement. I would evaluate myself in each major arena, using whatever framework I've developed, and see what my strongest and weakest aspects were. Then I would choose a role model who had fantastic amounts of that quality. What I would KNOW is that their beliefs and values were different from my own. Look more deeply: would I be a better, stronger person if I had that? Yes?
Then I would incorporate an image of this model into my morning ritual. This morning, my models were:
Larry Niven--writing
Steve Muhammad--the warrior path, physical, mental, and emotional, including relationship
BKS Iyengar--yoga and body-mind dynamics
Brendon Burchard--teaching and marketing and spiritual/emotional commitment
Chin Man Ching--Tai Chi
Dawn Callan--the feminine warrior energy
Octavia Butler--writing
Harley "Swift Deer" Reagan--Lucid dreaming
Danny Inosanto--martial arts
William Shakespeare--writing
What is fascinating is getting them talking to each other (the "Parts Party") and hearing what they have to say about life. What is MOST valuable are the things they all agree on, based on what I have consciously researched, or intuited, or imagined they might say and feel.
Really, I've never run into a problem, or even HEARD of a problem, where this approach doesn't increase your speed of learning, and increase your odds of success. It works.
And is one of the most important aspects of Firedance for that reason.
Namaste
Steve
