Have you ever thought about modelling? Not as in the Naomi Campbell type of modelling – but as in studying people who are where you want to be, or have what you want, and using their journey to assist yours. Motivational speaker and coach Tony Robbins is a great believer in this concept and has used it to obtain fantastic results with people from all walks of life. 

I heard an interesting take on this from life coach Ed Lester – your model does not have to be similar to you – you can model someone of the opposite sex, someone in a completely different field of expertise, or even an animal! Ed says that once when he needed to feel motivated, he watched footage of the racehorse Red Rum winning the Grand National. Red Rum looked invincible, fearless and full of energy and confidence – by the end of the race, Ed felt the same way.  I’ve always thought I’d love to have the presence of one of those wild cats you see on nature programmes – they seem effortlessly graceful, even when they launch at full speed to chase their prey.

If you’re a performer you could model other performers – male or female – other creative people like painters, scientists or even someone you know personally. As long as they have something you’d like to aspire to, it’s worth studying their modus operandi.

You don’t want to open yourself up to the accusation of blatant copying, or having a creepy scenario like ‘Single White Female’ (the movie where a woman’s new lodger decided to become her clone)!  You want to develop your voice, style, personality, business idea or whatever you ‘do’. But you can learn a lot from others -as the saying goes ‘Success Leaves Clues’.