Seven Habits of Highly Effective Gems

1. If You're Going to Be a Gem, Be Precious
There is so much to be, but why be semi-precious? If you can be precious, go for it! There are so many gems out there who are commercially marketable, but are they the ones for which poems are written, tombs ransacked, and corrupt politicians named? Remember, though, that precious is not the same as precocious.

2. All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Don't be fooled into thinking that everybody wants to have or be gold. It is not the only noble metal, and it fails in a number of respects, just like most of your romantic relationships. Sure, it looks nice to everyone, but there are other equally attractive, refractive stones and such to be. Technically, gold isn't even a gem, so why are you even concerned about it? That's like wanting to be a dolphin when you are already an eagle.

3. Sparkle
Sparkle. Sparkle, damn you!

4. Be Multi-Faceted
Here is a world of opportunity. How you are cut is how you are viewed. If you are confident in how you present yourself, your appeal will span the masses. This is not to say you should be two-faced. Faceting dates from the Middle Ages, so you can be certain that the technique is set. Why be "in the rough," when you can be classy and sharp? The more facets you can have, the better adapted you are to any setting. Any setting. I said, any setting.

5. Know Your Strengths, Know Your Weaknesses
Each gem has its own limitations to complement its abilities. Know yourself and work everything to your advantage. Sure, if you're a diamond, you want to be beautiful and you are the hardest known substance, but one bad cut, which is easy to get, and you are no longer a jewel. Keep in mind that you have any number of any industrial uses that will save you from generations of safe deposit box anonymity. Only you can cut and shape you and your kind. If you are a pearl, for God's sake, stay away from vinegar. Trust me.

6. A Gem By Any Other Name Smells As Sweet
Sure, everyone wants to be a chief gem, have a hardness rating of eight or higher, have good specific gravity, and be unsurpassed in prismatic dispersion, but does an igneous crystal actually smell too differently from a gem from the denser metamorphic zones? Not really. Not anything you'd notice, at any rate. So stop worrying about smell; it has nothing to do with being a gem and is therefore kind of petty. Unless you smell like an oyster, but hey, that makes you unique.

7. Make Being Gem Unique to You
There are plenty of Gems out there, some more successful than others. Find what it is about you that is most gem-like, and work on making it work for you. Shine on. Remember, the worst case scenario is not someone who is a better Gem than you, but rather someone who is the same Gem as You. You want to be remembered; You want to be special. You have in You a Gem Like No Other. Let it out. Set it free.