In house of cards, there is a scene when Zoe tried to threaten Frank Underwood leveraging “their arrangement”. Frank famously said: Proximity to power deludes some into believing they wield it. Zoe eventually paid the highest price for flirting with power. In reality, people who are close to power/the wealthy often behave the same. They confuse proximity with possession, and act like they actually own the source. I call this the power fallacy. However, borrowed power is not sustainable. What really matters, is what left when you are separated from it.

Take New Yorkers for example. New Yorkers are perhaps the most narcissistic residents in the whole world. Many consider settling down in New York City the greatest victory in their lives, regardless how miserable their lives actually are. They are not willing to go anywhere else since, take New York out of their lives, they have absolutely nothing left. In fact, only a small portion of New Yorkers are actually living their dreams while the rest live in the forever hallucination that “they have made it.”

Yet, true power comes from within. It is not what you attach to but what you can attract. It is the mobility to go anywhere and live a great life. People who are truly powerful are fearless. They have relentless confidence in their ability to achieve whatever ambitions on their mind. So do not get too excited if you happen to attach to prestige, maybe a lot of it, focus on what you are without it. Since the intrinsic value is what you can count on at the end of the day. The borrowed power, is not sustainable.