Modeling is an extremely proficient strategy for pursuing success in any performance-oriented endeavor. As the saying goes, if someone can do it, anyone can learn it. Modeling is a state of curiosity and selflessness. It is a desire to listen to, watch, respect, and learn from others as well as yourself. Modeling is an interest in process over content. Process or the “how” something is done is arguably more important than content or the “what.” The process is where skill is focused to create the end result. There are countless ways to do anything, but there are ways that are extremely effective and there are time-and-energy wasters that might get you to a similar result – sort of like getting close to the target but still far from the bullseye. Modeling can take many forms. Some of your most fundamental skills have been acquired through modeling others. Babies and young children are expert modelers. Only when they start learning by more traditional methods do they begin to lose this skill.

You can model anything as you identify the mastery in someone who does well the thing that you want to capture; for instance:

• Motivation to keep your personal commitments
• Influence
• Achieving a personal best
• Listening
• Networking

With conscious awareness you have a choice to do something differently.

Applying the process to self we can see that the strategy is reproducing an ability or skill that you have in another area of life, in order to use it in other contexts. For instance, you may be methodical, self-assured and cautious in another part of your life, but highly anxious, impulsive and unpredictable when it comes to reaching your goal. Uncovering the strategies involves observing personal program(s) that are sequences of mental and behavioral codes. For instance, how you do what you do when you walk, talk, drive, read, or laugh. Normally we don’t think of how we do these things, but they constitute a code of behavior that has been established. The programs that make them happen are managed on your behalf by your unconscious mind. These are known as strategies. When you have the strategy for how someone manages his or her experience, you have the key to reproducing that experience for yourself. Often you will hear a successful person share that they have a consistent pattern for selflessness—a notion of giving back, which reminds them that they are a part of a larger community and that this perspective helps them remain grounded in the face of greed. Secondly, they have a larger reason or purpose that illustrates why they desire to be successful, one that is not money driven. They have a skill in using metaphor and visionary thinking. Winners are able to create a sensory rich vision of success that creates a subconscious passion for remaining focused on what matters most; that is, keeping rules, and following their plan. They also have a dedication to sequential and purpose-driven protocols, i.e. the development of effective routines that give way to the development of strong habits leading to skill-building around rule based methods of success. So, identify what you want to excel in and find someone who is successful doing it to model.