Many influential speakers and financial coaches such as Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki (among others) agree on this subject. If you read the book Poor Dad Rich Dad from Robert Kiyosaki, you can clearly see that his Rich Dad was one of his role models. Tony Robins says that Jim Rohn was one of his mentor but he also mentions that he has many role models. They all believe that it’s important to have someone or a group of people you can use as role model(s) to inspire or guide you towards greatness.
A role model is basically a person whose behavior and achievements in a particular area serve as inspiration for other people, mainly younger or less experienced folks. People try to imitate their role models and follow their steps with the belief that they can achieve the same results. Personally, I have several role models and each one of them inspire me in different ways.
I am inspired by Elon Musk’s ability to innovate and create technologies and products that have huge impact on the humanity. His perseverance and sense of mission really inspires me. His intellectual capacity also inspires me.
Jeff Bezos inspires me with his obsession with customers. When I am building something, I’m always trying to apply Jeff Bezos principle of putting the customer first. It’s his obsession with serving the customers that took Amazon to where it is now.
Bill Gates inspired me with his vision of bringing personal computers to the masses. A vision that he worked relentlessly to make it a reality. Today, you and I can enjoy very affordable and powerful computers because of this vision.
Steve Jobs was also a great inspiration. For me, he was an artist obsessed with high quality and robust products. The iPhones and iPads we all enjoy today are all fruits of his genius and intellectual mind.
I could write a whole book about folks who inspired me in the past and in my current day-to-day. From tech billionaires to motivational speakers, book authors, scientists, etc.
While having a role model is important, it’s important also not to be a blind follower, but a student. In my opinion, it’s not wise to close your eyes and just follow. Real students analyze what their teachers say and make their own research.
While they are successful people, they also make mistakes, and usually they don’t hide it. But if you have a mindset of a follower, you might end up worshipping them, and that’s a dangerous thing in my opinion.
Think about it. You may have conquered something that they didn’t. For example, you may have a happy marriage and they don’t. If you follow them blindly, what happens when they divorce? Are you going to divorce as well?
It’s very important that we focus on what is good and leave what is bad or use what’s bad as a learning experience. For example, the financial success of your role model is a good thing to imitate but their failures should be a lesson for you not to make the same mistakes.
The key is to not be a follower, but a student. Take what’s good, learn with what is bad. Don’t follow blindly, use your common sense. Your path to success might be different from your role models.
Remember, you are responsible for your own success or failure. You cannot blame anyone if you succeed, and you cannot blame anyone if you fail either. You have the power of decision. All you have to do is decide what is good and what’s bad for you. Everyone knows what’s good an what’s bad.
It’s perfectly fine to admire other people and get inspirations from them. Just make sure you are not falling into the worshipping trap because that will blind you and eventually get you disappointed. The trick is to focus on the positive teachings, words, and actions of the people you admire.
For example, how do they deal with business challenges in their day-to-day and get positive outcomes? What positive things can you learn from their leadership skills? When you watch an interview, what are the positive and inspiring things they said? What are the mistakes they admitted they have made and how can you learn from those mistakes? From all the bad things they said, what are the positive lessons you can learn? Role models can be a blessing if you can take positive lessons from their life experience.
In my opinion, you shouldn’t waste your time following someone, reading, or watching everything they say, unless you are going to be inspired or get something positive in return. For example, I trained myself to not waste time watching celebrities gossip because it doesn’t add to my life and goals, and I don’t see anything positive. While they are making money, you are wasting your time with gossips.
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