Get this development technique right and your skills will move forward very fast indeed.
Get this wrong and you’ll be wasting a lot of time, and probably the time of others.
Some quick pointers will hopefully set you on the right road:
- Decide what skills or qualities you wish to develop then find role-models who exemplify these.
- Don’t look for the perfect person to emulate in all aspects. That person doesn’t exists and surely, you’d like to be you not anyone else?
- Observe closely and look for other examples to compare against. Seriously, they are only one example of how to do it. Find role-models of how not to do it too. Think clearly.
- Be alive to the reality that what they do may not be appropriate for you. Re-interpret what they do so it fits with you.
- But, beware you are not missing something because it feels uncomfortable to you. Practice and play with new behaviours and see how they turn out.
- Engage with them, don’t leave them on a pedestal. Once you get into conversation you can start to explore their values and beliefs related to the skill you wish to master (and make your own).
- Don’t ever ever believe that you’ll never be as good as them. Maybe they’ve had their day, in their time, and tomorrow is open for a new and higher level of success.
Also worth noting that this should be a structured approach rather than just wandering and wondering. Get busy on a couple of key skills you’d like to master. Have clear goals and once you’ve attained the target level of competence, move to the next most important skill to develop.
Now, despite this being a development technique that has been passed down since the dawn of time, I would wager than not one in a thousand have clearly identified role-models. Are you 1:1000?
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