“Study successful people and see how it fits what you do. You can’t outright replicate somebody else’s success, but you can sure learn from them and put your own twist on things.”
– Steve Spurrier, National Champion Coach and Heisman Trophy Winner
One of the fastest and most effective ways to start achieving the things you want to achieve is to find someone who has already achieved what you want to achieve and emulate them.
Study their life story. Listen to interviews they’ve done. Read anything they’ve written.
What do they believe? What is their mindset and life philosophy? What type of attitude do they embrace?
What is their daily routine like? What habits have they formed? How do they carry themselves?
Pay close attention to what worked for them and even closer attention to what didn’t. Then, follow in their footsteps. Follow the same path they have already carved out.
This simple strategy can save you years of trial and error.
Not only will modeling someone else’s success save you lots of time, energy, and pain, but having a role model also gives you someone to constantly keep in mind as unforeseen problems and challenges arise. This has been a very helpful technique in my life.
When problems arise or tough decisions need to be made, you can ask yourself, “What would X do in this situation?”
The fact is, we’re all emulating others constantly. It’s human nature. The problem is that we’re often unaware we’re doing it and we may be copying behavior we don’t want to be copying. Having a specific role model in mind allows you to make sure you’re emulating the behavior of someone positive – someone you actually want to emulate.
When choosing a role model, it’s important to understand that if you’re looking for someone who is perfect, you’re not going to find them.
Everyone has moments of weakness where they say or do things they wish they hadn’t. Everyone makes mistakes and has personal flaws. There’s no reason to completely cancel someone for being human. Instead, emulate their good qualities and avoid the mistakes they made.
Another key to choosing role models is to understand that you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one. You may have someone in mind who would be a great role model for your career, someone else in mind for the type of parent you want to be, someone else for your health goals, etc.
Remember too that the principles of success are universal. They carry over from one field to another. The leadership qualities of a successful coach will work in any type of career. The attitude and the beliefs of a high achiever in one career field will work just as well in the vast majority of other fields.
Emulate successful people while also embracing your unique gifts and talents. The goal is not to become an exact replica of someone else, but to learn from them while staying true to the things that make you you.
Success leaves clues. Follow those clues by modeling the successful people you want to be more like.
Be specific and choose your role models wisely.
This Month’s Featured Book:
OLD SCHOOL GRIT:
Times May Change, But the Rules for Success Never Do
An old-school college basketball coach who thinks like John Wooden and talks like Mike Ditka enters the final NCAA tournament of his legendary career and uses his last days as a coach to write letters to the next generation revealing his rules for a happy and successful life: the 15 rules of grit. Consider this book an instruction manual for getting back to the values that truly lead to success and developing the type of old school grit that will get you through anything.
