Do you have a role model?

“My dad was my best friend and greatest role model. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, and friend.”
— Tiger Woods

Having a role model in our life is very important, and having a good role model is more important, as they influence what we do and how we turn out eventually. Positive role models influence our actions and motivate us to strive to uncover our true potential and overcome our weaknesses.

A role model is someone who serves as an example by influencing others. For children, the most important role models are their parents. Children look up to a variety of role models to help shape how they behave in school, relationships, or when making difficult decisions. A role model inspires and encourages you to strive for greatness, live to your fullest potential, and help to see the best in you.

It is someone whom other individuals aspire to be like, either in the present or in the future. He/she may be someone who you know and interact with on a regular basis, or someone whom you’ve never met, such as a celebrity. Common role models include well-known actors, political leaders, teachers, speakers, players, singers, doctors, scientists, and parents or other family members.

A good role model is someone who is positive, calm, and confident. You don’t want as a role model someone who is down or tries to bring you down. We like a person who is happy with his/her achievements, and continues to strive for greater and better objectives.

All successful people have role models. Once they decide who they want to be as their role model, they look at who was there in this role before. When I was small, I did not have any role model. The idea of having a role model was not known to me. But today, I understand the importance of having a role model that I can emulate him/her. Since they have walked through the paths I want to walk, I can always learn from them. The most empowering feature is the belief that if it was possible for them to become successful, so is it for me. All I have to do is to model and install their pattern of excellence in my life.

Picking up the habits of a successful person can make you more likely to achieve success in the particular field he was successful, build your determination, and shape your mindset in a similar way.

Today, my role models are Les Brown and Anthony Robbins — both of them are great motivational speakers and authors. They have touched and influenced the lives of millions and are still doing it. My dream is to become like them, one day. I read a lot about them, listen to their audio books and attend their seminars whenever possible. I observe how they build rapport with the audience and win over them during their sessions. I know that they were ordinary people, and today they are extraordinary because they followed certain success principles.

When I decided to run my first marathon, I took cues from my colleague who had run many marathons even when he was in his late fifties. I followed his instructions diligently. You have to find a role model, someone who has been very successful in the area you want to work in. Find out all you can about them and read about their success story and follow their footsteps, and one day, you will be there. Don’t limit yourself when choosing a role model. Choose the best person you know who is already living the life you dream about.

Having a role model is one of the crucial aspects of self-improvement. Following someone’s advice and trying to copy his or her approach towards certain things in life will actually give you a better perspective on how you are coping with problems and how you are trying to climb higher. Witnessing the results and analyzing the change in your role model’s understanding will, in turn, make you aware of your own transformation and effectiveness of your efforts.

You will also get advice on how to overcome your obstacles, at the same time you will also have an insight and see how it was like in the shoes of your role model back then. You will see what was happening in his mind at the time the problem came up, all through coming up with the solution, implementing it, and witnessing the results. That will contribute to the process of your progress, since you will recognize some of your emotions as fears, doubts and hesitations. It will serve as a complete guide for you.

By going through what your role model said or wrote, or most likely did, you will feel motivated to achieve the same progress and witness the same success. Motivation also comes in the way of having faith that you can succeed by following a similar success story, and ultimately having confidence that you’ve taken some of your role model’s qualities and adopted them as your own.

Do not ever make an extremist or fanatic your role model, as it will ruin your life. Every day we hear stories of young people who are influenced by such negative role models and ruin their lives!

Since you look for a role model in someone you personally admire, having one can help you in a way that you will try to copy many of his/her routines and habits, as those are the habits and routines that drove him/her to success in the first place. Picking up the habits of a successful person can make you more likely to achieve success in the particular field he was successful, build your determination, and shape your mindset in a similar way. Hence, you should feel encouraged to learn more about people who inspire you and whose success you’d like to replicate.

On the other hand, distance yourself from people who are not on the same frequency. People whose qualities you don’t admire or people who don’t live up to your standards and beliefs when it comes to defining greatness. Be in touch with people who move you, challenge you and inspire you.
Do not ever make an extremist or fanatic your role model, as it will ruin your life. Every day we hear stories of young people who are influenced by such negative role models and ruin their lives!

Young people often become fans of celebrities, heroes, and famous people. If you observe these successful people, you will know that most of them do what they love to do. A closer look at these people will reveal that they put their heart and soul in whatever they do. They are passionate about it and deliver their 100%, and that made them successful.

Hence, before identifying a role model, you have to identify your niche and answer the question: “How do I want to be known in the world?” Accordingly, you must choose a role model and model him/her for the rest of your life because they have already gone through what you would be going through. Someone has done it before you!

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