Most people, of course, adapt easily. No one wants to be a fuddy-duddy and be out of fashion. The trouble comes from the fact that some people adapt too easily. They are too readily shifted by every prevailing whim. These are the people who have not established their own personality—their own individuality. They are busy, busy copying everybody else. They are suffering from what I call a crowd complex.

You know what a crowd is: it's the bunch you go around with, your own special group of friends. The top crowd, and there is one in every school, usually sets the pace and the others follow in line. And inside that large circle of follow-the-leader, there are smaller circles, for it usually happens that the members of each group tend to do just what the most important person in their crowd does.

Take, for example, this situation: The Rah-Rahs (the big crowd) decide that it is smart to wear bright green sweaters. Pretty soon everybody is wearing bright green sweaters. There is nothing wrong in that, except the fact that on some people bright green is mighty unbecoming. Where the situation becomes dangerous is when the top crowd decides that it is smart to drink or to drive cars at seventy miles an hour on a dark winding road. Then those people who follow that lead are being foolish, for they are endangering their life and happiness. They are sheep being led to the slaughter.

Now, chances are that you have come across situations like these more than once in your life. In fact, chances are that at one time or another you actually did something you knew to be wrong, but you excused yourself by saying, "Gee, Mom, the crowd does it." Well, let the crowd do it, but don't do it yourself. Develop your own standards and your own judgments. Learn to say "No" gracefully. Don't be afraid of declaring your own independence. Don't feel that you have to compromise your personal standards in order to be accepted as one of the bunch. If you know that the crowd intends to go out for a wild drive and you know that what they are planning is wrong, tell them that you can't come—that you have a headache, that your mother needs you in the house, that you have a baby-sitting appointment that you can't break. Get an excuse and then stick to it; don't weaken.

Admittedly, it is difficult to decide when to act differently from your crowd, but it is a decision that you must make if you want to become a person in your own right. You can no more become a well-rounded personality if you become a slave to crowd customs than you can be attractive in your own right if you pattern yourself after a movie star. If you are going to amount to a row of beans in this world, you have to start by setting up your own standards and sticking to them. And it need not be added, I hope, that such standards should be based on decency and good taste.

There are some crowd customs which it is fun for everyone to follow—things like everybody wearing one blue and one white sock, wearing club jackets and hats, or shaking hands in a special way. These are all sacred secrets and rites that set you off from other crowds and make yours different. Such things do nobody any harm and are fun. So do not misunderstand me. I know that a crowd is fun. I think that going with a group who knows you and whom you know in return makes life lots easier. You date the same boys, you plan your parties together, you sit in the same row in school (if you can), and you visit each other overnight and weekends. You learn a lot by discussing your problems together. I'm all for it.

What I am not for is letting a crowd get the better of you. I do not believe that a crowd should be the sole basis of your opinions, the sole judge of what you should wear and the sole jury about what you should do. Belong to your crowd, but be above it. Remember that you will never gain anyone's respect by being a rubber stamp. The girls you copy will resent it (even though they are flattered), and the boys will think that you are pretty dumb if you can't do something original on your own.

Do not underestimate a boy's intelligence. They may seem pretty stupid about some things—they may get their feet tangled on the dance floor or stumble on their tongues when talking to your parents, but they are smart enough to know that a girl who just follows the crowd hasn't got very much on the ball. They would rather date a girl who sets the pace than a girl who just jogs along.

Be careful, though, how you set the pace. Don't get steamed up without knowing where you are going. Search your route cautiously, testing each way before you choose it. Try to be to yourself what a good suit is to your wardrobe: a constant classic that can be dressed up or down according to the occasion.

Maybe you ask, what has this all got to do with popularity? The answer is that popularity depends on your ability to get along with people, all kinds of people, and the better you learn to adjust to each situation the more easily you will make friends. You will find that you can make those adjustments more successfully if you have yourself well in hand. And the only way to get yourself in hand is to know yourself, to analyze yourself, to turn yourself inside out as you would an old pocketbook—shake out the dust and tidy up the contents.

I hope that this little book will have given you some insight into how to turn yourself out. I hope that you will see what you gain by putting your best self forward. I hope most of all that you will have enjoyed what you have read here. I did not write this book to scare you, to make you shun your mirror or run from your friends. I only wrote it to put down on paper all those small but helpful suggestions on how to make the most of oneself that I have learned as a model. I don't expect that all of them will apply to every single one of you. But I do hope that some of them will apply. If you find just one or two or them useful, then I will consider that perhaps I did not make a mistake when I switched momentarily from Betty Cornell, the model, to Betty Cornell, the author.

Just to limber up, and aid the waistline, stand with feet together, tummy tucked in; hold the arms high above your head and reach for the ceiling.

Keeping the knees straight and feet together, touch your toes ten to twenty times. This is an excellent exercise for muscle tone and to slim the waistline.

Here's another waist-cincher. Stand with feet apart, hand resting on your knee, other hand above the

head; now reach, stretch, and pull first to the right—then to the left, about ten times to each side.

Now, for the hips, the old rocking chair. Sit with crossed feet, hands

on knees; rock back and forth on those hips

Now to flatten the tummy, resorting again to the boys' football practice. Lie on the floor and raise the feet to a 45-degree angle; now lower them, keeping

the knees straight, ever so slowly to the count of ten. Feel it pull? Although I know this exercise hurts, it also helps.