Mimic Those More Successful Than You
126: Learn from those who do it better than you.
The new mental exercise #5 is out—you can find it in products and resources.
Welcome reader! A better post name would be "Learn to mimic what works." The idea and the key concepts are the same. The Internet has allowed us to get information that can improve lives overnight—mentioned in the basic guide to the golden age. Without a doubt, everyone reading this understands that. Why would you spend your precious time finding something that works if others did it before you and achieved what you want? Another practical read to improve your life.
Why Would You Want To Mimic?
There Is No Magic: There have been millions of people before you on this planet, and millions will be after you. What does that mean? If we remove all technological advancements from the equation and how it has improved our lives over the past few decades. The conclusion is simple: if we exclude technological advancement, most fundamental life-improving insights have already been discovered. Ancient Greece is a good example of that—connecting food with health, exercise and heliotherapy. Did you notice the pattern? Today, we have Oura ring, Treadmill, and red light therapy to help. The point here? We humans exaggerate how far we have come since those times. There is truth in that... But we didn’t change as much as we like to think we did. Should you stick to principles that ancient Greek philosophers laid out centuries ago? Not necessarily. Does it give you another angle to look at things? Absolutely. It shows that humans could benefit from researching principles laid out earlier by those who knew things we tend to pay minimal attention to.
What Does It Mean For You: What has been laid out above can apply to any other case. Do you know someone performing at the level you want to perform at? How about spending 30 minutes of your day researching what they are doing in their daily lives to achieve the results they are achieving? That doesn’t necessarily mean you will have the same results as them or become the next Huberman. Could it help you improve your life and give you another perspective? No one can deny it. Listening to others operating on a more complex level and their takes on life is always recommended. Better said, looking for what they have found to be most efficient for their case and their lifestyle. We can all agree that all of us are different individuals with different life priorities. Some will give more importance to fitness, while others will give greater importance to making money. Others might focus on creative work or trying to start their own business. Priorities change over a lifetime, and everyone is different. It is a normal part of the game—nothing should be more worrying than those not looking for new ways to improve their lives or being in the same place for years. Huge red flag.
The reality is that someone better than you is doing something you want to be doing and achieving the results you want to achieve. The best part? In 80% of the cases, you can gain insights into how they do it. Better said what protocols they follow to gain an advantage over the others. Diets, workout routines, approach to work, and how they schedule their day. These factors could benefit you and could be applied to your situation. You will be able to find most of those with some research. Allowing you to test what works for you or doesn't. Everyone is different—it doesn’t mean it will work for you if you follow the same work schedule as someone else.
Finding what works for you comes into play when you pay attention to the fact that the day only has 24 hours. Suppose you want to get the most out of it… It all comes down to optimization and what you will prioritize. Picking one area of interest over the other. Not sleeping works until one point when you will get sick and spend weeks in bed without being able to work. Realizing that it is a net negative process—not sleeping will make you look 20 years older by your 40s. Meaning? To get the most out of your day, you must optimize your daily schedule and stop wasting time on the things that don’t work for you or could be done efficiently.
Wasting Time-Finding What Works For You: This method of finding out what works or doesn’t is practical because it saves you from the trial and error phase. Which often spreads across days, weeks, and months. It also allows you to gather multiple takes on the most optimal approach—often takes years to figure it out. Plus, getting a solid strategy and base around it saves you from lots of trial and error that could be avoided. Results? It gets better over time. How often have you thought you had a great idea and implementation until 6 months later, you realize it was all a waste?
Picking pieces from what someone else is doing doesn’t mean you stick to the same schedule or take the same advice as it was given. Often, it will be impossible to do so—depending on your schedule. You want to look for advice that will most apply to your situation. Modifying it based on your needs and seeing what works best for you. Even if it doesn't work, it is another plus. Giving you an angle and understanding what is worth it for you. What should be your first starting point? Big picture. Start with a blueprint perspective opposite to what most like to think it is - step by step. What you want to do is pick a piece from someone who is doing something better than you. Be realistic with what results you can get and how relevant your advice is to your current situation. Once you start incorporating pieces and principles into your life and modifying them as you go. After a few months, you will have all the necessary knowledge about whether they work for you doesn’t.
A wise man learns from the experience of others; an ordinary man learns from his own experience. - Confucius
Mimicking Those Who Do It Better Than You
Picking Parts: Those who follow us on Twitter know our take on finding someone you find relevant. Pick a few individuals you trust who gave you relevant advice that helped you improve your position and start digging deeper. Their previous advice and systems helped you… Which often means that other stuff they recommend that works for them will be helpful for your situation. Again, we are repeating ourselves. Does that mean you should optimize to the smallest details? No. It is a waste of time, and your time could be spent better—opportunity cost. A basic example of implementation not being worth it for you? Following professional athlete diets. The principles could be solid, but if you are working a white-collar career, sitting the whole day in front of the computer screen and eating 5000 kcals—there is so much you will get out of it.
How Should You Approach Mimicking And Getting The Most: Starting with the things that will most impact your life. This comes down to self-assessment and being realistic with yourself. If you know your diet is not good and you can’t help yourself with it. But your information source is preaching that intermittent fasting is the best way to limit food intake you don’t want to consume. That is an implementation—a daily habit that should be worth mimicking for you. Your fitness routine takes you over 10 hours per week, but do you want to get it down to 7 or 8 hours? How about you find something that others in great shape are doing, which takes less time? The same rules don’t always apply. A good example is private training and the best of the best food that not everyone can afford at the moment. Those extra specifics you can't afford yourself or are missing out on are a maximum of 15% of the whole picture. The main principles are still available to you or anyone else who wants to try and follow them. If you can't stick to the schedule or look for an excuse for why someone else has better results than you, it means you have problems you need to work on anyway. The big picture stays the same. If you can follow the exact strategy, you will achieve the results. Mimicking others comes down to the basics—not the details, as the majority thinks.
Standing on the shoulders of giants allows us to see further and achieve more. - Isaac Newton
Mimicking applies not only to daily routines. The same principles could be used regarding mindset or future bets. This becomes more important for those who already know what works for them or have on-point daily routines. Both mindset and future bets don't make much sense if you are not already in a comfortable life position—that is when you will get the most out of them. Suppose your daily actions are already in place, and the day is structured so you can make the most of it. Going deeper and switching from applicable stuff to deeper layers is what it is all about. The same way you approach someone's daily habits is how you could approach their mindset or what they expect from the future. To make it more practical, you follow three tech giants who created big things in their careers and are still taking part in shaping where things are going. Suppose all three say that AI or any other technological advancement will be the next big or that the state of entry roles is becoming more complex. This should be a pattern you are paying attention to—their bet on where things are going. Are multiple giants betting on a new trend without connections or extra gain? That is their future prediction. Their future bet. The same principles could apply to anything else. Investing, macroeconomic changes, new trends, or the next big thing. Learn to follow the patterns—concepts we already covered in the old world vs. the new world.
Thanks to the Business Insider for the article.
Finding Out What Others Are Doing: Depending on who you are trying to mimic, you will either have an easier time or a harder time finding what you are looking for. The more popular someone is, the easier it is to find pieces you can pick up. The less individual famous is—or the less someone wants to share what they are doing, the harder it is for you to do so. Daily routines and work schedules will be mostly found in books (think biographies and personal stories) or online articles. What about investing advice or macroeconomic changes? There are websites such as Quiver Quantitative which could help with that.
Thank one of our Telegram members (you know who you are) for sharing the website with the group.
What about mindset, future bets, and patterns? This is where podcasts, articles, and social media come into play. Learn to leverage the right sources for all the relevant bets. Podcasts are often the easiest ones to avoid because the transcriptions end up online sooner or later—meaning you could save 3 hours by reading 10-minute text. For articles? The best solution is if there is no media presence or a target, especially for the individual you are trying to research. What about social media? This depends on your source—it will be the best or worst channel. We would argue that Twitter is the best place to start if you follow the right sources.
Learning To Separate What Works From What Doesn’t: It will be the easiest or most complicated part. Depending on how much you know yourself and what works for you. If the trial and error phase is past you or you have tried to optimize your day before—there is nothing you should worry about. It means you have a solid understanding of what could benefit you, and things will move fast. For those who have never given it a chance, this is a longer process and will take some trial and error. Our suggestion for mimicking comes down to starting with the daily routine. Diet, sleep schedule, or workout routine. Following this schedule is easier because the implementation results will be visible—tangible. Suppose you are working in a corporate world and building a business on a side—there is so much you can get out of the mid-day gym session that someone else is preaching as the most optimal. For you, the story is different. It means you will either go early in the morning before work or late at night after finishing everything. It is a common sense when you think about it. But sometimes, you won't be able to disqualify without trying those frameworks and seeing how they work for you.
The mental models and future bets are a whole different story, and it is something you will pick up easier or harder—as it depends on where you are with your personal development and your position in life. The more your basic needs are taken care of and the wealthier you are, the more sense it will make. The order you should try to mimic goes from the least effort to the most. Based on that, it would look like this: 1) Daily routines (sleep, diet, workout schedule), 2) Investment advice or any other type of advice that is trackable (Investments, portfolios), 3) Future bets and predictions, and 4) Mindset and approach to life. We leave it up to you to decide whether mimicking is worth pursuing. We can guarantee that what used to work for you over time might not work in the future. That is why you always want to be open-minded and ready for change when mimicking those doing it better than you.
Conclusion
Everyone can learn a lot from history and how civilizations stood the test of time—think ancient Greece. Principles and lessons from those times still apply today. What is different is the format and application—it is easier than before.
With only 24 hours in a day, you should optimize if you want to care for all your life areas—money, health, and social. Pay attention to optimization and find out what gets you the most output.
Mimicking those more successful than you is powerful because it saves hours of trial and error.
Finding the next big thing requires having a few credible sources say the same thing or take the same bet. It all comes down to patterns.
Future bets and mindset will not make much sense until you are in a comfortable life position—pay attention.
What source should you follow? It is subjective. Podcasts, articles and social media—they all work and are different. Podcasts often require hours of investment to be worth it, while social media can lead you off the track.
Mimicking should be done from the least effort to the most. 1) Daily routines (sleep, diet, workout schedule), 2) Investment advice or any other type of advice that is trackable, 3) Future bets and predictions, and 4) Mindset and approach to life.
Disclaimer: None of this is to be legal or financial advice of any kind.
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Awesome. I always question/frame advice received through the lens: "Does this advice come from someone who have done or know how to get what I want?"