0:00

This episode is brought to you by Progressive

0:02

Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy,

0:04

celebrity interviews or news, you call

0:06

the shots on what's in your podcast

0:08

queue. And guess what? Now you can

0:11

call them on your auto insurance too

0:13

with the Name Your Price tool from

0:15

Progressive. It works just the way it

0:17

sounds. You tell Progressive how much you

0:19

want to pay for car insurance and

0:21

they'll show you coverage options that fit

0:23

your budget. Get your quote today at

0:25

progressive.com to join the over 28 million

0:27

drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance

0:29

Company and Affiliates Price and Coverage Match Limited by

0:32

State Law. We're

0:37

getting close to the end of our journey together, Brian.

0:40

It's been a long road. Of course,

0:42

for you, the journey is just beginning. I

0:45

hope I've helped you set your feet more firmly on

0:47

their path. That's all I can

0:49

really do. You're the one who has to walk it. Do

0:53

you still feel up to the challenge? Over

0:56

the course of the last nine weeks, I've given you

0:59

all the tools you need to get ahead. Time

1:02

to bring them together into one cohesive

1:04

package, the package of Brian. This

1:07

is the package you're going to sell to the world.

1:10

This isn't about what's going on inside your mind.

1:13

It's not about what efforts you're making behind

1:15

the scenes. This is the version

1:17

of yourself you want other people to believe

1:19

in. The

1:21

version of yourself that other people

1:23

can trust, can invest in, can

1:25

look up to. Now,

1:28

I understand, and you understand, that you are

1:30

not this person yet. You have

1:32

only just embarked on your journey of discovery.

1:35

It will be years before you realize your own

1:37

potential. In fact, it

1:39

is highly unlikely you ever will. That

1:42

is the idea. Your

1:45

potential is an asymptote, and your reality,

1:47

the line that curves ever towards

1:50

it, growing closer every day. but

2:00

never meeting. Did

2:02

you study algebra, Brian? When

2:04

you were in school? I think you did. Maybe

2:07

you were going to, but then someone mentioned the

2:09

idea of studying geology and suddenly that seemed more

2:12

appealing to you. Well,

2:14

you're not doing anything with geology now, are you? But

2:18

it doesn't matter. What you did in

2:20

the past doesn't matter. What you're doing now doesn't

2:22

matter. What matters is

2:25

what you can promise to be doing in the

2:27

future. What matters is what

2:29

people can expect from you. When

2:31

people have high expectations, they entrust

2:33

you with more important tasks. When

2:36

they have high expectations, people make

2:38

more opportunities available to you. It's

2:42

crucial that people have high expectations of

2:44

you. And

2:46

you are in control of those expectations. The

2:49

goal is to make sure everyone's understanding of you

2:51

is based not on who you are now, but

2:54

who you are building towards being. The

2:57

Brian of the future, the great leader of

2:59

men you aspire to be. Your

3:03

reinvention starts now. It

3:05

starts with selling the person you're becoming.

3:08

Of course, we're talking here about the

3:10

perceptions of you that other people hold,

3:12

and you can't really know what those

3:14

are. But those perceptions are built on

3:16

information, nuggets of data collected

3:18

over time that build to a picture

3:20

of you. Brian

3:22

takes sugar in his coffee. Information

3:25

is usually on time, but almost never

3:27

early. Brian takes a moment

3:29

too long to laugh at people's jokes, and you're

3:31

never quite sure if he really got them or

3:33

not. All of

3:36

these tiny facts or misconceptions about

3:38

you collate in someone's mind perform

3:40

an overall impression. And

3:43

it's that impression that determines how much they

3:45

believe you to be capable of. So

3:48

if you know what pieces of data a

3:50

person is working with, you can make an

3:52

educated guess at the impression they have of

3:55

you and the degree of trust they can

3:57

be expected to place in your abilities. can

4:00

then begin to add to their data

4:02

set to replace in their minds those

4:04

facts that are contributing to a low

4:06

perception of you. Think

4:09

about what people know about you or what they

4:11

believe to be true about you. And

4:13

think about what you would like them to know, what

4:15

you would like them to believe. Then

4:18

simply provide them with the evidence to back

4:20

up those beliefs. It does not

4:22

matter if the evidence is accurate to who you are now.

4:25

It simply needs to be true to who

4:27

you will be in the future. Remember

4:31

there is no such thing as a lie

4:33

in this situation. There is merely a reality

4:35

that is yet to become true. Think

4:38

of it this way. If you wait to

4:40

reframe your public persona until it can be an

4:42

accurate picture of who you really are, you

4:45

are building in a delay to your own

4:47

success. It takes time

4:49

once someone's opinion of you begins to

4:51

change for any misapprehensions to be corrected

4:54

and more time after that for them

4:56

to put real substantive faith in you.

5:00

If you take the time to become the great man

5:02

we are here to make you, but

5:04

wait until the end of that journey to

5:06

let people begin to build the proper respect

5:08

for you, you are doubling the time it

5:11

will take for you to achieve real success.

5:15

You can be doing both things at once. In

5:17

that way, by the time you are ready to

5:19

show the world the you you've become, the world

5:22

is ready to see it. In

5:26

every moment someone is perceiving you. You

5:28

are marketing yourself. It is commonplace for

5:30

marketing to be a little ahead of

5:32

the ball. Sell your

5:35

potential instead of your reality. And

5:37

by the time someone buys it, your

5:40

potential will be the reality. You

5:43

are as close to it as they can reasonably expect

5:45

it to be. the

6:00

show available to you right now if

6:02

you join our Patreon. We're an independently

6:04

produced drama and cost of equipment, recording

6:06

time, production, artists, travel, they all require

6:08

listener support. I don't gotta tell you

6:10

right, you listen to podcasts, you know

6:12

the drill, but here's the thing. The

6:15

Within the Wire's Patreon not only has

6:17

bi-monthly video chats with me, Jeffrey Craner,

6:19

and my co-writer Janina Mathewson, but also

6:21

director's notes of each new episode and

6:23

behind the scenes features in our off-season.

6:25

Plus, and this is the coolest thing,

6:27

a Patreon only within the Wire's series

6:29

called Black Box, with four

6:31

new episodes each year, released

6:34

on Solstices and Equinoxes. Equinoxes?

6:37

And you can get every single episode ad-free,

6:39

or if you like the ads, we put

6:41

those out separately for you as well. And

6:44

we're adding exclusive ads every two months for

6:46

products that may or may not even exist.

6:48

Support starts as low as a dollar a

6:50

month, so if you like what we do

6:52

on the show, please consider helping out financially

6:55

and get some of that sweet, sweet bonus

6:57

content. Ooh, content.

6:59

Mmm. Bonus. Contemporary

7:02

artistic collaborative audio effort.

7:05

I don't know, bonus episodes, whatever, we think you'll love

7:07

it, if nothing else, know that we love you. And

7:12

now back to the episode. You

7:22

might feel at this point that you are further

7:25

away from your potential than you were at the

7:27

beginning of this series. Things

7:29

might feel like they're not going particularly well

7:31

for you, but maybe that's just a

7:33

sign you're on the right path. Resistance

7:36

is natural. Some resistance

7:38

is natural. Let's

7:40

have a look at what's happening. Your

7:43

husband moved out. That's

7:45

a shame. I really liked you two together,

7:48

but not many people will tolerate infidelity.

7:51

You may think that this is an overreaction. One

7:54

night, with one guy, an emotionless tryst, that might

7:56

not seem like such a big deal to you,

7:58

not something that has anything to do to

8:00

do with your commitment to your marriage, a

8:03

release of tension in a stressful period

8:05

of your life, a reaction to his

8:07

beginning to seem suspicious of you, asking

8:09

so many questions about your past, natural,

8:14

animal, instinctual, to answer

8:16

your carnal needs if you're miserable

8:18

at a bar, drinking alone, angry

8:20

and depressed, and someone shows interest

8:23

in you. Even if that

8:25

interest is only superficial, even if the

8:27

sex is perfunctory at best. Oh,

8:30

did you not realize that I knew about that? That's

8:33

funny. That's very funny. If you're

8:36

going to cheat, Brian, you should really

8:38

try to make sure you know exactly who it is you're

8:41

cheating with. What

8:44

did you think some random guy was just hitting on

8:46

you for no reason? Did

8:48

you think he just happened to find you

8:50

irresistible with your sallow face, your

8:53

thinning hair, your permanent scowl?

8:57

You should know that none of that really matters. You

9:00

weren't the only one cheating. Andre's

9:03

affair was anything but perfunctory. There

9:05

was real intimacy built over weeks.

9:07

He seemed hungry for it, desperate

9:09

to be close to someone, to

9:11

feel he really knew someone. You

9:13

must have been keeping him at arm's length your

9:15

whole relationship. It

9:18

makes me feel a bit guilty. Andre's

9:21

left you thinking he's about to start

9:23

something new. Begin afresh

9:25

with someone who's actually willing to be open

9:27

and honest with him. It's

9:29

a shame he has to find out I was lying too.

9:33

Well, he'll never

9:35

know how much I was lying. Or

9:38

how much I was telling the truth. Your husband

9:40

really is an excellent lover. I got

9:42

my face, truly. Here I

9:44

was thinking I was just using him

9:46

to get information on you, only to

9:48

end up having an almost meaningful relationship.

9:52

These are the challenges of my job, Brian. But

9:56

as for you, marriage

9:59

isn't everything. You have your

10:01

career. Don't

10:03

you? Sure

10:06

you've been put on reduced responsibilities, told

10:08

to stop bossing people around? How

10:10

demeaning. I'm sure you've

10:13

noticed people whispering about you, falling silent

10:15

when you enter the room. People

10:17

are questioning why you've been demoted. Natural,

10:20

really, when someone's position changes so

10:22

suddenly. Natural to wonder why.

10:26

Do you know why? Do

10:29

you think you're gonna get fired? It's

10:32

almost more stressful to have the sword of Damocles

10:34

hanging over your head than having it actually fall,

10:36

isn't it? Maybe

10:39

you'll be able to compare the two soon. This

10:43

is a hardship, but hardships are not

10:45

necessarily bad. We need to go

10:47

through difficulties to become strong. Challenges

10:49

like this are a refining fire. You

10:52

will come through them a new man. You'll

10:54

find out the kind of person you really

10:56

are. Maybe

10:58

it will be a relief to have some time off work.

11:01

After all, you don't look well. You're

11:04

so tired, but you can't get a good night's sleep. Your

11:07

joints are aching. Your hair's

11:09

falling out. Your skin feels thin and

11:11

brittle. Have you not been taking your

11:13

supplements? They're there for a reason. And

11:16

on top of all this, your beloved

11:18

dog's gone missing. And

11:21

you really did seem to love that dog. I

11:24

was never quite sure how you felt about

11:26

your husband, how much you liked your job,

11:28

how much you liked your house, but you

11:30

and your dog seemed genuinely inseparable. Well,

11:35

maybe he'll turn up, find his way

11:37

home from wherever he is. I'm

11:40

sure he's still alive somewhere. There's

11:43

no reason to think he's dead. Oh,

11:47

and talking of your house, that

11:49

must have been devastating to learn about the

11:51

termites. The amount of work you put into

11:53

that place, and so much of it will

11:55

have to be undone to fix the problem.

11:57

Or maybe this will be it. If

12:00

there's real structural damage, you might have to

12:02

simply bid farewell, have it torn down. That

12:06

would make even me sad. I'll be honest,

12:08

it really is a lovely home. Well,

12:13

we're about to come to the end of our time together. It's

12:15

been quite a journey, hasn't it? I've

12:18

enjoyed myself immensely. I

12:20

imagine you have a lot of questions, Brian,

12:22

and I promise, before this is over, you'll

12:24

have your answers. Whether you'll

12:26

be happy with them is up to you, of course.

12:30

There's only one more bit of homework I'm going to

12:33

ask of you, and it's simple, really. Not easy, but

12:35

simple. There is a

12:37

map included with this cassette and a set of

12:39

instructions. Follow the map

12:41

to the point marked, and then follow the instructions closely

12:43

to find the last tape. It's a

12:45

bit of a trek, but nothing compares to the

12:47

full journey you've embarked on. The

12:51

mountaintop awaits. And

12:53

you deserve the mountaintop, don't you,

12:56

Greg? Oh,

12:59

huh. Did you think

13:01

I didn't know your real name? You've

13:04

been living as Brian for so long, you

13:06

might have forgotten it yourself. You

13:09

have clearly forgotten me. But

13:13

I never forgot you. I

13:28

never forgot you. Within the

13:30

Wires is written by Janina Mathewson and

13:33

me, Jeffrey Cranor, with original music

13:35

by Mary Epworth. Find more of Mary's

13:37

music at maryepworth.com. This show

13:39

is produced by me and directed this season

13:41

by Janina. The voice of

13:43

Tony Tollinger is Joey Rizzolo. Also

13:46

read our novel set in the Within the

13:48

Wires universe. It's called You Feel It Just

13:50

Below the Ribs. It's available wherever

13:52

you get your books. Support

13:54

us at patreon.com/within the wires.

13:58

Within the wires is part of Night Vale Presents. Listen

14:00

to other amazing podcasts at Night

14:02

Vale Presents dot com. Okay,

14:05

our time is done. It's you

14:08

time now. Time to

14:10

lead your company to success. Set

14:12

objectives for achieving the singularity.

14:15

Communicate a shared vision of

14:17

an unjust moon and

14:20

reward success with defiance.

14:26

Hi, I'm Jeffrey Craner and I wanted to

14:28

tell you about one of my other podcasts.

14:30

Random number generator horror podcast number nine. So

14:33

the thing is, my friend Cecil Baldwin, the

14:35

voice of Night Vale, loves horror movies. And

14:37

he's helping make the genre more approachable for

14:39

me and hopefully for you too. One film

14:42

at a time in a random order. Are

14:44

you squeamish about horror movies? Look, I get

14:46

it and no worries. Just listen in and

14:48

we'll tell you everything that happens. But do

14:51

you love horror movies? Well, that's great too.

14:53

Watch along with us each week. We've got

14:55

nearly 200 episodes covering everything

14:57

from the Shining to Leprechaun 4

15:00

in space. I'm serious. We go

15:02

in a random order. So check

15:04

out Random Horror 9, wherever you

15:06

get podcasts.