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Try to stay away from celebrities and stick to looking at people you know in real life. It's easy to identify superficial things, to say that Brad Pitt is special because he's so rich and good-looking, but it's hard to identify or even know the true core of his person. We can only see the public persona, which radiates artificial movie-star prestige, not the real person.

Focus on how other people’s characteristics resonate with your own core values and avoid focusing on superficial things. Being special is more about knowing who you are at your core, not from what you think other people are like.

Authority doesn't make someone more special. If someone has power over you, is more successful than you, or is well-known and respected, that doesn't mean that you need to emulate them.

What does it mean to be special? Look at the people you think are exemplary, notable, or special in some way and identify the key characteristics that make it so for you. You might think people who stick up for themselves stand out in your mind as being special, or people who devote themselves fully to their work, or people who are reserved and stoic in the face of adversity. This will be different for all of us, so focus on figuring out what it is that you respect about your grandfather, your close friend, or a loved one, not what other people say.