Melissa Reddick

Do you know what I want for your final super hero? I want your Super Hero Self #3 to look, sound, act, feel, and behave like a villain.

Seriously.

I’m tired of the “squeaky clean” “good guy” personas. We already have two.

If you’ve been giving this 3rd Super Hero identity any thought whatsoever, you would have realized it needs to be this way anyway.

Why is that?

It’s because. I told you to make this Super Hero identity a catch-all. To include everything the first two didn’t get to be.

The first two were classic versions of Heroes. The ones we’ve all been taught, trained, brain-washed to believe in.

But they’re too good. Too squeaky clean. Too “perfect”. They probably don’t get their armor dirty. That kind of thing. And that’s not going to get us to where we are headed in this series.

Perfection is going to stop you from going where you need to be.

Cleanliness, purity, they serve a purpose. Eventually, that purpose has to end.

Do you think the guys your Super Hero is fighting – the villains – are worried about getting dirty?

No, they’re not. They are willing to do everything under the Sun and then some. AND, they are willing to do whatever it takes before and after that in order to cover their tracks.

This is how criminals and villains in real life actually are.

That is why this “good guy” persona is only going to get you so far. Every Super Hero has a moment in their personal journey (yes, journey) where they have to decide “Am I going to get my hands dirty in order to do what must be done, or am I going to back away and let the bad guys win this one?”

“This one” might be “The last one”. Once the villains see where you are willing to turn back and run away (which, if you are turn your back on a villain you better be prepared to run for dear life), they know exactly where to keep going back to in order to win.

So you better choose wisely. There are advantages to not going into certain areas, certain places, certain territories. You don’t always have to follow your opponents everywhere, especially if they are leading you back to their home turf.

That’s just common sense, Super Heroes, come on. You know that already.

But this is why I asked you before “what’s the price you’d be willing to accept in order to stop working on your mission, and turn your back on those you chose to serve?” This turning point that I am talking about now is where the villain notices your hesitation and says “ok, what’s it going to take to just get you to give into fear? A Million dollars? I can make that happen. All you have to do is stop here, let me do what I am going to do, because you’re too scared to stop me anyway, aren’t you? You’re not willing to cross -this line- anyway, so here’s a little incentive to sweeten the deal.”

You’re scared, you’re tired, you’re hungry, you’re about to be covered in muck and filth. You might not be able to wash your hands before you eat your next meal. You don’t REALLY want to climb down into this disgusting sewer behind me. You don’t really want to jump onto this train track to stop me from planting a bomb with 10 seconds until the next train comes. So don’t. I’ll give you whatever it takes for you to walk away with a clean conscience and say “at least I got what I want out of the deal.”

“Sure, 10,000 people or more will die, because the bomb is planted under the busiest part of the city, and there’s a festival or convention happening 3 stories up, and this bomb has a 20 mile radius, but you get to walk away with $50,000,000 in your pocket. You can rebuild the city with that, or at least start.

Sure, if I make it through the sewer without you on my tail, I will be able to interrupt the President’s inaugural speech and take out everyone in attendance. But I can offer you a lifetime of Peace and Happiness. I will never bother you again – which, if anyone ever offers you the opportunity to be left alone, IGNORE THEM. THEY ARE LYING TO YOU. Anyone who has children already knows this is a limited time offer, it has an expiration date. Don’t accept it! Even in fictional scenarios.

I will never bother you again. I will be dead, because there is a bomb strapped to my chest and that is how I am going to take out the entire convention hall of people.

But the memory of how you betrayed the city, the country, the world, and everything good that could have happened that no longer has the potential to will be on your shoulders. You will be responsible for all of it. What will you do then?”

These are all things you have to think about when deciding what your Super Hero self #3 is truly, genuinely capable of and willing to do in order to succeed.

So…make your Super Hero seem like a Villain. Maybe even worse than the Villains of your wildest dreams. Dream big.

In a world where your Super Hero self is no longer needed, the reality is that you WILL SEEM LIKE A VILLAIN IN ORDER TO GET THERE. You have to. Everything you do to change the world is not going to be accepted lightly. If it was going to be, you wouldn’t be changing anything.

It makes sense, but it takes time to arrive at the time and place where it does. I believe in you.

For now, what does your Super Villain Hero Self look like? Start writing it up.