Despite being the highly evolved homo-sapiens that we are, as humans we still constantly seem to emulate that which we seek to become. For this reason, we are always looking for examples of what we want to be and we follow in those footsteps religiously. If we are disciplined enough, that is. Often those examples are the people who do well in our chosen field, people who are seen as demi-gods by us mere mortals.
The problem with this is that we never see the entire journey. We do not see the hard work, the obstacles, and the struggles in their journey. We only see the result. What can we learn from them? Just looking at a destination of a journey couldn’t possibly teach us more than convincing us that we want to reach that destination. The plan now is to figure out the route. How do you get there?
Finding your route
Looking at your life and career as a journey will go a long way to help you figure out: ‘What next?’
The first thing you do before embarking on any journey is to take a look at your GPS. When becoming what you need to become in life or your career your coach, role model or mentor would become your internal GPS. Choosing the perfect role model isn’t a game of chance, though. One of the reasons for this is mentioned above. It is hard to know a role model’s journey if you cannot research it or study their obstacles and failures.
Careful consideration is the only way to ensure that your role model will serve you well. Having one that can be asked questions about the steps in their journey is a surefire way of simplifying your journey to success. To use an example, if you wanted to become a voice-over artist you would be better served by making use of voice over coaching from a reputable company rather than just idolizing James Earl Jones or Tara Strong and the like. If you wanted to be a more complete person in your life in general, the Dalai Lama or his monks might be a great fit for you. The point is, a role model or coach will accelerate your journey in a way that you can’t do on your own.
Staying on route
See, by actually having your own professional you can talk to and ask questions about the route you are on, you ensure that your directions to the destination you chose for your life or profession are still on track. You can check back now and again to see if you are still following the track that was recommended for you by your professional. You will learn the best methods of achieving little goals you may have set for yourself along the way. Your role model would help you to set these goals and achieve them. They may even draw your attention to the places where you are about to wander off of your set route. We often do not realize that what we are doing may be counterproductive to what we are trying to achieve.
What to look for
When seeking out a role model we too often get stuck on what we want to become instead of also looking at what we don’t want to allow in our end goal. When looking at someone that does what you do not want to do in your life or career you can learn from their mistakes. Find out why what they did wasn’t appealing to you and why that wasn’t something you’d want to do. Find ways of avoiding their mistakes. People who you see as failures in what you consider your end goal probably didn’t want to portray the failures that you see. Where did they go wrong? Learn to do things better than these people did by finding how your role model succeeded where others have failed.
Remember that no question is a dumb question. A good role model will realize this and be more than willing to provide the answers that you seek. These answers are mini directions that will bring you to your destination. Your destiny, if you will. Ask a positive role model how they beat the obstacles that tripped up a negative role model. This way you will be instructed on ways of avoiding actions that may lead you away from where you need to be in your journey.
Also, keep in mind that every move is not custom-made for everybody who desires to be what you want to be. Because we are individuals we all need an individual plan. You probably will not have the same personality as whomever you choose to be your role model. For this reason, a good mentor or coach will be able to tweak your route to fit you specifically. You will have to do things a bit differently just for the simple reason that you are you. You may even realize on your own that some of the things your role model does may not work for you. This is not necessarily the end of your road because you can find a different approach to still achieve what you need to.
So in conclusion…
Finding your passion or what you want to be in life is already an extremely difficult task for some. When trying to decide on whom you want to emulate it can become confusing but taking the time to find the right person takes an immense amount of pressure off of your shoulders. This leaves you more time and energy to focus on your craft or life goals, whatever that may be because you know that your role model has your route mapped out from start to destination. Just keep your goal in mind.