A Key to Success
One key to success is to find successful people to emulate.
Be careful, though, if you think you can ask them for advice.
People often don't really know why they succeed, but they will
give you as many explanations as you want. For example, I saw
a 100-year-old man explain that smoking a big cigar every day
was one of the secrets of his longevity. It would be nice to
know why he lived so long, but I'm pretty sure we won't learn
by asking him.
A Key to Success - Study It
The key, then, isn't in doing as they say, but rather doing
as they do. This is how to learn success from the successful.
Of course, you have to look closely and apply a little brainpower
to see what they are really doing that is causing their success.
A wealthy real estate investor told me once that he didn't
believe in setting goals. Watching him and listening to him,
though, I came to realize that he knew just where he expected
to be with his projects in six months. This is goal-setting -
he just called the process something else.
You shouldn't stop listening to what successful people have
to say, but you should read between the lines. Listen to their
words for insight into how they think about things, how they
approach their challenges. Suppose a successful basketball player
only advises you to practice more, but he casually mentions "I
saw that going in," after a great shot. Its time to start
visualizing your shots going in.
A Key to Success - Model It
We won't always know what is causing a person's success. Successful
internet marketers promote their websites by exchanging links,
but when I first tried to exchange links with other websites,
the owners didn't respond to my emails. Then I found a letter
used by a successful internet marketer to get links. It sounded
silly to me. I wanted to change it, but the first time I tried
it, it worked.
The point is clear. It is more important to do the right things
than to understand why they are right. To understand too is great,
but at first, it may be best to just copy many of the actions,
attitudes and approaches of someone who is succeeding. Model
success, even before you understand it.
Then, as you learn, you can drop those parts that aren't contributing,
and add elements of your own. Suppose you model a successful
parent, for example, and life with your children is better. Does
it matter if you know right away which changes were the most
effective.
Is it better to understand why what you are doing works? Of
course, but you may not ever understand why some things work,
and this is okay too. Better to have success than to explain
it, so find successful people and do what they do, not what they
say. That's a vital key to success.
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