The-Slight-Edge

invest in Yourself 151
true for personal development and any change we want to see in our life. It has to
consist of information and a supportive environment.
Whatever goals you aspire to, just seek out people who have achieved the
same or very similar goals, or who are well along that path, and go camp on their
doorsteps or do whatever you can to associate with them, emulate them, and let
their grasp, understanding and mastery of the subject rub off on you.
Spend Time with the Masters
If you want to raise the quality of your life, hang out with people who have
been there and done that. If you want to be a great public speaker, spend time
with great speakers. If you want to be a success in business, then find a way to
spend time in the company of successful businesspeople. If it’s important to you
to be a terrific parent, the best thing you can do to further that aim is to spend lots
of time with men and women who have mastered parenting.
You can define a society by the heroes it keeps. You can also define a person
by the heroes he or she keeps. Who are your heroes? Who are you modeling
yourself after?
The ninety-five percent on the failure curve tend to accept the heroes society
plants in front of them: film stars (America’s version of royalty), rock stars,
sports stars. I can certainly admire these folks, but I always ask myself, Can I
emulate them? Practically speaking, can I convert my admiration into constructive
modeling that increases my learning and moves my own life forward?
Too often, we make heroes out of people who can’t help us, whose lives are
fantasies, not genuine role models. Take a look at who your heroes are—write
down a list and examine it. Ask yourself, “Can I become like them? Are these
people doing the kinds of things that I aspire to do and living the kinds of lives
that I aspire to live? Can they really help me become who I want to become?”
Find people who’ve done what you want to do and surround yourself with
them. That’s learning through modeling, and it’s a powerful part of learning
how to understand and use the Slight Edge. Once you become worthy of being
modeled, you in essence become the teacher. And if you teach long enough,
people begin to look at you as a master.
The problem is that most people want to go from learning to becoming the
teacher. They don’t want to bother with having to learn the activities well enough
to be modeled.
The quarterback position in football is a great example. First he has to learn
the playbook. Secondly, he takes those plays from the chalkboard to the practice
field. And if he is good enough at implementing his learned knowledge, the team