In 1949, New Statesman ran a quirky challenge.

The magazine asked its readers to write a couple of paragraphs parodying the style of any novelist with the name Green or Greene.

The English writer and journalist Graham Greene spotted this challenge and decided to have some fun.

He wrote a few sentences and submitted a parody of himself under a pseudonym.

The result?

When New Statesman announced the prizes, Graham Greene had come in second!

You’ve probably heard the old line about others knowing us better than we know ourselves. 

But try telling that to poor old Graham. 

If his escapade is anything to go by, the opposite is true:

No-one knows us better than we do.

Sure, others might know our habits, behaviours and personalities pretty well. They might have a sense of what motivates us or be able to predict what we’re going to do before we do it.

But our habits, behaviours and personality have nothing to do with who we are.

Who we are comes before these. 

It comes before our name, our jobs and any other labels we've grabbed hold of.

It comes before our behaviours, actions & habits.

It even comes before our thoughts and feelings.

And when you strip away all the variables and see what remains, you get down to the constants. The real us. The part of us that no-one else knows better than we do.

One of the joys of the last 3 years or so has been getting more and more familiar with this part of me.

Why?

Because the more familiar I am with who I am, the more often I can be myself.

So when my to-do list is overflowing …when I’ve only had 4 hours sleep…when I need to have a difficult conversation…when I’ve got a banging headache…when I’m standing up to speak in front of a room full of people…or when I say the wrong thing...

I know, more than ever, that I can still be myself.

If you like the idea of being yourself more often too:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com