You should have atleast one role model: Here's why
One of the fastest and most effective ways to awaken the doer within you is having role models in life. Not all of us are fortunate enough to have them in their immediate environment, so it’s in your sole responsibility to find the superstars you want to look up to. Since we are the average of the people we spend the most with, we shall not underestimate the power of investing time in books, biographies, movies or even pictures of those who we admire.
You can even go as far as the popular author of the 20th century Napoleon Hill, where he created an imaginary mastermind with all his idols. Napoleon Hill basically read all critical biographies and articles about them and was able to have fictious conversations in his mind to counsel himself for situations where he needed advice. Heck’, he even interviewed many of his idols personally for his life altering book “think and grow rich”. Emulating your role model’s personality gives you the unique ability to ask yourself in challenging situations: What would Oprah Winfrey or Tony Robbins do or say in this situation? And here the magic happens: Since you had tremendous exposure to your superstars, you will actually receive genuine and helpful answers from them in your fictional conversations. Like the new Open Artificial Intelligence “Chatgpt” has the competence to write fictional scripts between people who are already dead (try it, it’s really fun!), the supercomputer between your ears is also able grasp the thinking and talking patterns of those you spend the most time with. But this is just the beginning of the magic of looking up to your idols. Stick with me.
How do you pick your role models?
Deciding in which personality you want to dive into, depends very much on which traits you aspire to acquire. Since you are on this blog I reckon you are into becoming somebody who engages life in a proactive way, somebody who took over the driver’s seat, choosing the direction by her or himself. Now when you ruminate about personalities who embody these traits, you may already have pictures in your mind. Just to give you some ideas of human beings who lived exactly this lifestyle:
Who are role models? Popular doers and leaders:
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela was known for his proactive personality because he actively worked to bring about change and make a positive impact on society. He spent much of his life fighting for the rights of marginalized and oppressed people in South Africa, and was willing to take bold and courageous actions to achieve his goals. He was a leader and a visionary who was able to inspire and motivate others to join him in his efforts to create a more just and equitable world. Some specific examples of his proactive personality include his leadership of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, his role in establishing the African National Congress Youth League, and his willingness to sacrifice his own freedom and well-being for the cause of justice and equality.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
She was a Supreme Court Justice who served from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was known for her work on gender equality and women’s rights, and she became a highly respected and influential figure in the legal community. Ruth experienced sexism her whole lifetime until her death. Since Ruth took an employment in a position as highly regarded judge, which usually occupied by men, she regularly got harassed for her decision to work in that field. When she graduated from Columbia Law School as best in her class, she was not able to get employment, due to the resistance of men seeing a woman in a profession which was intended for the male gender. One of her Professors supported her to get her first job as assistance for a federal judge.
Steve Jobs
A popular choice when it comes to proactivity and execution is for sure Steve Jobs. Steve was co-founder of Apple in 1976, but he was later fired from the company in 1985. However, he went on to found NeXT, which was eventually acquired by Apple, and he returned to the company as CEO in 1997. Under his leadership, Apple experienced tremendous growth and became one of the most successful and innovative companies in the world.
What society doesn’t tell you about chasing role models
Without trying to sell you the idea to stay where you currently live and becoming your desired version of yourself, I’d like to encourage you to see reality as it is. Most successful individuals we see in media made huge headwork towards extraordinary financial income and status. But this is not always necessary. You can be the most versatile, proactive and courageous human being without chasing the shiny objects of tremendous popularity. It’s okay to not have a vast followship, a six-figure income or being a one in a million inventor. All of this comes with huge sacrifices and often lucky circumstances, and you are absolutely okay and allowed to consciously decide that less is enough for you without feeling unworthy. So, when you defined your superstars, don’t put too much weight on your shoulders in order to make the same value of accomplishments. Very often you will experience equal positive reactions and results to your virtuous deeds, if you become the best version of yourself in your environment.
Next stop: Execution!
“Swell, I know my Idols now, what’s next?”
Congratulations, you made huge progress already. Now that you defined the characteristics you want to acquire, and the role models you want to look up to, it’s time for execution. Dry up your sweaty hands and let’s get things done! There are various ways to do so:
Books, Biographies, movies, articles
Start getting to know your role model by simply diving into their lives. How did they grow up? What was their first job? What did they learn to sell? How do they talk? Get inspired and obtain the knowledge not everyone knows about.
->Speeches
If you want to get a quick motivation, listen to one of their speeches or read the scripts. When I wanted my speeches to be perfect, I never finished them writing. Only when I read about Martin Luther King’s famous speech “I have a dream” I felt a huge relieve. Why? Because his speech was such a tremendous success and even Martin Luther King, still changed parts of his speech minutes before he made history.
-> Writing down the most important information
Let’s be honest, listening to motivational speeches or watching a documentary / Biography about something is exciting and gives us the feeling we got something done, but science proves us wrong. We barely memorize things we are exposed to only visually without retrieving it. I recommend you to write down the things you value the most in a notebook or a medium of your choice. Sometimes when you have spare time you can pull out your little notebook and enjoy you very personal lessons Dale Carnegie, your grandfather or Matthew McConoughey have teached you.
->Mirroring
When you discover what your role models are good at, you can try to mirror their body language in your very unique way, how they treat others or how they talk to others. Some would say fake it until you make it!
If you wanna go crazy, you can even try to get a personal interview with your very own role model!
Conclusion
When you notice a difference in your behavior, according to how your role model would react in tricky situations, then you succeeded in mastering this personality. Executing these ideas may not give you results tomorrow, or next week. But if you stick to these habits, you will experience results when you least expect them.
Who are your personal role models and what do you like of them?
Dear Lorenzo!
It’s great to see you around this corner. Very often random people I meet on my journey become role models to me. It starts with acknowledging the strength of the person and reflecting if it is something I’d like to implement in my behavior. But to mention specific names: Jim Rohn, because of his industrious and convincing personality. Billy Graham for his incredibly contagious way to speak about spirituality and religion. And my biggest role model is probably my mother who teached me in my early days already to not aspire an average life.
Who is your role model Lorenzo?
Best Wishes
Kevin
Interesting, I didn’t know these names, I’ll read something about them.
Same thing happens to me, I often see something I could learn from a person I met, but sometimes I’m fascinated by their personality or qualities and I want to get as much as possible from them. Some of them are happy to share their knowledge, some other are more reluctant, maybe because they don’t recognize in themselves the potential I see. Do you have a way to overcome this distance and get them to open up to you and maybe coach you about something?
There is a person I met during University who is a great role model to me, he’s just a simple person with a normal job and a family, but has a depth I have never seen in anybody. Can’t think of any famous name right now, a part from Seneca of course, and Tim Ferriss maybe (you know I love Tim Ferriss haha)
Lorenzo
Hey Lorenzo!
Absolutely! I am sure with your level of integrity you will attract the right mentors in your life! That’s an amazing story actually! Well, with 30 upwards we decrease the scale of our social circle to a bare minimum in most cases. He may be satisfied with 3 good friends and his beloved family. I have no sure shot formula for you, except of asking him straight if he can imagine to counsel you here and there if you have questions.
Dale Carnegie wrote in his book “how to win friends and influence people” some ideas about that. Despite his family life you can find out what triggers his emotions currently and go with that. A great marketer told me once, that there are 5 aspects we desire in life. Performance, relationships, freedom, security, impact.
Kevin