Paris Geller from ‘Gilmore Girls’ should be your role model
Don’t be a Rory. Be a Paris.
Rory Gilmore. Smart, talented, funny, a bookworm. She’s everything. We all love Rory. Boys want to date her and girls want to be her.
But girls (and boys), don’t aspire to be Rory. Aspire to be Paris.
That’s right. Paris Geller.
The Type-A, unapologetic, these-boots-are-gonna-walk-all-over-you, former enemy and friend of Rory Gilmore.
Now, no, this doesn’t mean never have a social life.
Or start a vendetta against the new student who hails from that small town nobody’s heard of.
I mean be hard working.
But why should I be like Paris?
“Isn’t Paris kind of…you know…?”
Yes. She is. She is headstrong. She is hard working. She doesn’t take “No” for an answer and does what she wants (unless Rory advises her against it because she respects her opinion. Usually.)
And her work ethic isn’t applied just to getting into an ivy league college like Harvard (a main plot point early in the series). This goes beyond college admissions, resume building and racking up volunteer hours to show off to prospective colleges.
Throughout the first couple seasons of the show, Paris and her fellow classmates at Chilton have school projects from doing debates (2x14), performing a scene from Romeo & Juliet (2x09) and creating their very own product line (2x18).
All of these she takes very seriously as she should. They’re dry runs for real life.
Imagine this:
If you can’t win a high school debate, how will you win a debate at your future place of employment? Your next court case? Your next debate at the water cooler? Convincing your boss you’re right for the promotion and not Steve who is two cubicles across from you and is always on tumblr?
If you put less than 100% into your theater set design skills and acting abilities, how are you going to beat the competition for that acting audition for that play/musical you love? Don’t think of a community play as small time. Your audience is going to have just as high expectations of you as a Broadway audience will.
You can’t convince your teacher and three of your classmates that your locker first-aid kit is the hottest thing since toasted bread? How successful will you be when you begin your own startup project? Your clothing line? Your news blog?
W.W.P.D.?
The next time you’re working on a project and you’re dreaming about how much you’d rather be reading a thrilling book written by some obscure Russian author, ask yourself, “What would Paris do?”
Don’t wait to put in the effort when it’s the real thing. Put in the effort now.
