How To Find Success: Use The Copycat Principle

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Is there a problem you’re trying to solve, challenge you’re trying to overcome, goal you’re striving to achieve, or an opportunity you’re trying to take advantage of? Sure there is, and for most of us, it’s all of those things. In order to find success, you need to stop for a minute, bring one of those things to mind – the problem, the challenge, the goal, or the opportunity – and take these four steps:

1. Clearly Define Your Desired Outcome

What exactly is the problem, the challenge, the goal, or the opportunity?

2. Locate A Role Model

Who do know that has successfully dealt with this issue? If no one comes to mind, how can you identify someone who has successfully dealt with the issue? Who can you ask that might know someone? Look around at work colleagues, leadership team members, or members of clubs or organization you’re involved in – ask and observe. Find “that somebody” (or two… or three) who has successfully dealt with this issue.

3. Meet With The Role Model(s)

Dig in, ask questions, and understand what it is that they do or have done to successfully solve a similar problem, overcome a similar challenge, achieve a similar goal, or take advantage of a similar opportunity. Take notes and distill it down to a simple set of actions – ’cause usually that’s all it is.

4. Employ The Copycat Principle

Know do those same things. Refine or fine-tune the actions as necessary, but replicate, duplicate, and copy success.

Why “recreate the wheel?” Focus on the solution. The problem has already been solved, the challenge has already been overcome, the goal has already been achieved, and the opportunity has already been realized. Find out what the successful doers have already done… and DO IT!

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

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One Comment

1. 

   Bill

   September 17, 2012 at 11:03 AM

   Great post, Andy.

   I recently had a client who wanted to learn to remain calm during high stress times at work. I asked him what that meant and he said he wanted to be more like his boss – that his boss never seemed to get upset, stressed or riled. I suggested he speak with his boss to learn his secrets, which he did. My client learned his boss meditated daily. He used the copy cat principle and is seeing the results with his own leadership.

   Reply