Finding mentors and role models in your life is extremely important.
Here's the challenge: there's so many bullshit "gurus" out there...
Since the beginning of time, there have been charlatans and overly gregarious thought leaders with no real substance or wisdom behind their words.
Nowadays, in the dawning of the internet, we see these folks make their way onto YouTube videos, Facebook ads, and the blog site you enjoy reading.
How do you know who to trust?
Finding mentors that are worthy of following can be difficult but it's an essential piece of the learning puzzle.
By finding a good role model and copying their path to success, you can accelerate your own journey and avoid mistakes that otherwise would take years of hardship to overcome.
By doing so, you stand on the shoulders of giants and take advantage of the vast landscape of human knowledge that has come before your time here on the planet.
Furthermore, if you're pursing a goal that involves some technical expertise, it's essential that you find a mentor to teach you the craft.
So how do you find someone credible?
Look at what that person has achieved.
Results speak for themselves.
Find the people who have achieved what you want to do and start taking notes. Pay attention to how they interact with others, how they carry themselves, the mindset they have, the strategies they used, the interests they occupy themselves with, their work ethic, etc. etc.
Find someone that you want to be like who has achieved the results you want to achieve and then model that person, always adding your own magic.
When choosing a mentor, pick someone you want to be like in all areas, not just career.
How do they act with their family? How do they act around friends? What do they look like? What's their health like? What's their code of ethics?
Etc. etc.
Take everything into account.
As Bruce Lee says: "take what works, discard what doesn't, and add what is uniquely your own".
Pay careful attention to how your behavior starts to change when you model someone else.
Do you like the person that you're becoming? Is it uncomfortable?
If it's uncomfortable, sometimes that means you're on the right path... You're stepping out of your comfort zone... You're changing how you view the world.
Remember that your mentors don't have to be alive.
My greatest mentors and teachers are dead... I learn about them from books, documentaries, and history textbooks.
In fact, the more I study great people throughout history, the more I see how they model this same behavior:
Napoleon studied and modeled Alexander the Great.
Alexander studied Achilles and the heroes of Homer's stories... He carried his personal copy of the Iliad with him everywhere.
The greatest in history often study those who are long dead... Why? Because there is no one currently alive they want to model.
They want to create something totally new for the time they're in.
The GOATs don't want to model someone else who exists in their time... They want to be unique while still learning from those who came before and accomplished similar feats.
I challenge you to set your sights higher than the gurus of YouTube and Facebook.
Study and model those who achieved greatness that will last into eternity.
Doing so will allow you to to do the same.