Member-only story
8 Habits of Deeply Inspiring People
The best lessons from films and fiction on what makes a hero
Every now and then, we come across someone who’s simply awe-inspiring. They’re magnetic, glowing, irresistible. What makes them this way? Why do we look up every story they’ve written, watch every video they’ve appeared in, and listen to their entire backlog of podcast interviews?
I wonder about this every day. The reason I write stories about triumph is so that I can study heroes. It’s the only way I’ll ever understand what it takes to become one. When I read a book or watch a movie, I pay attention to the choices the hero makes: how they push themselves, how they grow.
So what makes someone deeply inspiring? Here are eight habits they share, all drawn from fictional characters.
1. They feel ordinary, just like you and me
What makes Spider-Man one of the greatest superheroes of all time is that he never asked for the job. He was a normal teen with a normal teenage pursuit: to impress the girl of his dreams. Even after his transformation, Peter Parker is still a loser. His alter ego gets all the credit.
Only when his life irreversibly changed does he accept the burden of his task. “With great power comes great responsibility,” his uncle said. Inspiring people accept great responsibility when life shoves it down their throats — despite feeling just as ordinary as everyone else.
2. They hear the world calling out to them
In the video game Final Fantasy VII Remake, the character Aerith talks to flowers. But communicating with the planet is not something that should be reserved for sci-fi characters. Sometimes, I’ll sit on a bench and listen to the trees. Occasionally, if I hear them speaking, I write about them.
The world is calling out to you. Maybe it’s drawing you to a certain book or putting a new opportunity in your path or giving you an inexplicable urge to do something you’ve never done before. Inspiring people don’t bury this urge. They know that doing that will only lead to regret. Instead, they sit on a bench and listen to it.
