Role Models are the Test Vehicles for your Life

ROLE MODELS ARE THE TEST VEHICLES FOR YOUR LIFE

What do all successful people have in common? They have all been strongly influenced by someone who impressed them a great deal. In our case, there are several role models who have had a dramatic effect on us. As you know, the most influential of all is Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the mid-70s I saw him on TV and I was just blown away. I was amazed that someone could be so muscular and look so good. What’s more he has achieved amazing things against all the odds.

In the early days, he was told he hadn’t got a chance of being an actor as he couldn’t speak English very well and nobody could pronounce his name. Arnold’s own role model was a body building champion named Reg Park who had gone into acting. Later, when Arnold was a Hollywood actor he was inspired by the words of Richard Nixon. He set his sights on getting into politics and influencing the way the country was run.  Now Schwarzenegger is Governor of California.

Modeling yourself on a successful person is a brilliant short-cut to being the person you want to be. Instead of spending years trying to figure out what works, you just look at the role model who best personifies what you want to achieve. Study them, find out as

much as you can about the way they think, read their biography, emulate

their style, their self-discipline and their approach to life. All you have to do is copy what they are doing. If you copy it exactly, you will get the same results. If you put enough hours in and approach something with enough clarity then you will get there every time.

As well as emulating someone from a distance, look for people around you who reflect who you want to become. If you want to lose weight and get healthy, make friends with people who eat healthily and work out. If you want to be a kinder, happier person introduce yourself to some kind, happy people. If you want to be more successful in business, socialize with successful business people and company directors! Celebrate their success, because their achievements show you that you are getting closer to your own without having to work at it. Just one word of warning, choose your role models carefully!

WHO HAS INFLUENCED WHO

“When I was starting out … I thought [Debbie Harry] was the coolest chick in the universe.” – Madonna

“I modeled my looks on the town tramp.” – Dolly Parton

“Peruse again and again the campaigns of Hannibal, Caesar and Alexander. This is the only means of becoming a great captain and acquiring the secret of the art of war.” – Napoleon

“[Jeane Kirkpatrick, a human rights advocate]  was a role model for me as an academic and policymaker…” – Secretary Condoleezza Rice

“Sally Ride  [one of my role models]  made it possible for anyone to become an astronaut.”  – Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman  to be accepted into the NASA space shuttle program.

“Madonna is my role model she’s such a powerful woman. I love Gwenyth Paltrow, she’s an actress I aspire to be like…” – Kirsten Dunst

“Maya Angelou was a role model for me. Growing up, reading her book, ‘I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing’ really kind of opened up my life in a way that made me think for the first time that being colored and being poor had some validation.” – Oprah

John F. Kennedy was Bill Clinton’s role model, Eleanor Roosevelt was Hillary Clinton’s and Thomas Edison was the inspirational character that drove Henry Ford. In fact, he hung a picture of Edison near his work area.

Put Stars in Your Eyes!

The Behaviour Igniter Exercise

1. Close your eyes and think of the person you wish to emulate.
2. Replay your memory of that person, noticing in particular their posture, their tone of voice and their mannerisms. What would they say and how they would behave?
3. Like a movie director make any changes or amendments to make them completely perfect for you!
4. Now float over to them and into their body. You are now seeing the world through their eyes. Imagine what they hear and what they see. Feel their confidence.
5. Do an ecology check?  Does this new behaviour fit in with your values and beliefs?
6. If anything is not as it should be, or changes need to be made, go back to being the movie director, and make any changes required
7. Now see yourself stepping in to their body.  So you can see the world through their eyes, with their strength and qualities that you admire!
8. If you need to have this persons qualities for a specific event, think of the future event, and see yourself using this new behaviour.  Imagine yourself performing the situation.
9. Repeat several times until you get a real sense that you are actually walking in their shoes…not just following in their footsteps.