Mentor / Model

Perhaps the easiest way to shape your strategy is to find and emulate a role model or mentor who has succeeded where you hope to succeed.

Fiction writers are taught early on in their graduate workshops that all the stories have been told. There are no really unique plots; however, there are unique characters and voices that cause stories to come alive.

Success, I believe, is equally “unique,” and successful people are the reincarnation of the skills, experience, and environment of their overachieving predecessors throughout humanity.

The steps they have taken in life can be repeated. There really is no mystery to their success. Get to know them. Read their biographies. Channel their knowledge and understand what they know and believe.

If you are a lazy bum whose burning desire is to run a marathon, I’m your guy! Follow my example! If you want to invest like Warren Buffet, read his story, follow the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder report, and study his beliefs, behavior and actions.

Sure, we can’t very well emulate the first person to walk on Mars because that has never happened (at least not by earthly humans), but an aspiring astronaut can emulate Neil Armstrong and apply that awareness while reaching a little higher and farther to achieve a Martian goal.