"I have touched the highest point of all my greatness."

Wouldn't it be great to be great? Who among us doesn't at the very least aspire to be the best at what we do?

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon 'em" is probably one of the most famous Shakespeare quotes of all, and its popularity has been helped because it chimes with everything we read on the internet that offers advice or solutions for improving our lives.

The problem is - it's a scam.

It's what we might call fake muse - like so much of the internet, and the Large Language Models that are talking to us like the servile robots they are, tugging their metal forelocks and congratulating us for asking them such brilliant questions. The quote comes from a letter designed to flatter and trick the reader, Malvolio, into thinking his boss loves him.

Everywhere you look on the internet is motivational advice telling you that with hard work, discipline and application you can become truly great, but this fails to address the most important question - what do we mean by greatness?

This week I'll be reframing the definition of greatness. I'm not promising that I can help you run the hundred metres in less than ten seconds, but by the end of the show you'll have a better understanding of what it means to be truly great, and how you might be able to achieve it.

Oh and I'll explain how I was scammed this week just like Malvolio.

Plays featured in this episode are Twelfth Night, Twelfth Night and Twelfth Night, with a sprinkling of Hamlet and The Tempest and special guest appearance of Falstaff.

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"Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting."

Have you ever agreed to do something for someone while your whole body was screaming NO! Are you scared of the consequences of disappointing the people closest to you?

Well hello there friend, come and join me here at SOPPY - the Society Of People Pleasing Yes-men. I've always been a people-pleaser and you know what, there've been a few times when it's been really useful. People liked me - which was very helpful for the job I did for ten years of stand-up comedian, and I was pretty good at defusing potentially difficult situations. But on other occasions I've put other people's needs ahead of my own, or taken responsibility for other people's emotions, and there comes a time when you have to prioritise yourself.

There's a simple and obvious way to turn people-pleasing to your advantage that I've never seen anyone try but it works for me.

I'm hoping that by the end of the episode you'll have learned to check in on your emotions next time you find yourself saying yes when you mean no; you'll learn the power of 'let me get back to you on that' and you'll understand how to sit with your discomfort.

Just hoping, thanks to the Shakespeare Mindset I'm no longer judging my own self-worth on whether or not I make you happy. (But I will be delighted if you succeed. Old habits die hard, or as Bruce Willis would say, die hard too.)

Plays mentioned in this episode are Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Timon of Athens, King Lear, Coriolanus and Tybalt & Mercutio, otherwise known as Romeo & Juliet.

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"So full of artless jealousy is guilt,

It spills itself in fearing to be spilt."

Jealousy can take many different forms, nearly all of which can be found in a single Shakespeare play, how we can spot it in others and heaven forbid, even in ourselves - and together we’re going to come clean about our resentful feelings in this department, and see if we can find a way, if not to avoid it completely at least to share space with it like the uncle who annoys you at Christmas but who you can cope with from a distance for the rest of the year.

I think you're likely to know which play I'm talking about - it's pretty much the set text of jealousy - yet Othello isn't the most jealous character in the play. Ooh given away which play it is now.

Key Shakeaways

1 The last person to admit they're jealous is usually you. By which I mean me. All of us. You know what I'm talking about here. Acknowledge the feelings, suppressing them won't make them go away.

2 Do what Shakespeare's characters did (along with Elsa): let it go. Let it GO!

3 Follow the advice of Orlando in As You Like It, stop worrying about other people and concentrate on your own life.

Shakespeare plays referred to in this episode:

Othello, The Winter's Tale, As You Like It

Other jealous references:

A famous John Lennon song. I'm sure you won't struggle to 'imagine' which one. (No, not that one)

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