Have you heard of the book I, Libertine?

It has a special claim to fame.

The book ended up on The New York Times bestseller list in the mid-1950s…

Despite not even being written!

How does that work?

Well, the “author” of the book, a radio host called Jean Shepherd, had a bee in his bonnet about the way bestseller lists were put together.  In particular, how requests for new books - rather than copies sold - counted towards these lists.

So Jean concocted a sneaky plan. 

He made up a fictitious author, plot and title for a book (I, Libertine).  Then he urged his radio show listeners to hightail it to bookshops up and down the country to demand a copy of this fabricated paperback.

Which they did. 

So enthusiastically, in fact, that word spread, demand for the book reached a climactic high and the book entered the bestseller list.

The imaginary book was even banned in Boston, despite not existing in the first place.

You can’t make this stuff up!

Anyway, all this hoo-hah led to Jean Shepherd commissioning an author to actually write the book and the earnings were given to charity.

So there was a happy ending for all involved.

As it happens, this I, Libertine story is more common than you might think.  There are lots of authors out there writing make-believe stories which then become real.

Those authors?

They’re us!

We all have our own stories about our past.  Stories based on where we were brought up, the way we were brought up, our education, our friends & role models, hobbies & interests, achievements & struggles, and so on & so forth, ad infinitum.

And lo and behold, we start to add meaning to these experiences.  They all come together to create the “story of us”.  The story we tell ourselves about ourselves.

Then this story starts to become true.  Even though it’s just a story! 

We start believing our story, living up to our story and acting in line with our story. 

None of this is deliberate.

But before we know it we’ve become “the sort of person who”.

The sort of person who doesn’t like public speaking, the sort of person who doesn’t take risks, the sort of person who will never be a good leader, the sort of person who isn't creative, and on and on…

I’m not saying any of this is “bad”, per se.

But it pays to be aware that we make these stories up, and that these stories shape & restrict our beliefs, behaviours and actions.

Especially as none of these stories are fundamentally “true”. 

They’re just stories.

And frankly we don’t have to be tied to any of our stories.

We can write a new story whenever we want.

If you’d like to write some new stories for yourself:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

That's all for today.  Have a great weekend.

- Tom