Modeling is the recipe for achievement.  Nearly everything that I want to do has already been done by someone else, and they know the recipe for achievement by heart.  I need to learn their recipe and use it.  Although shortcuts often derail me on the track to my dreams, modeling is a shortcut that works.  An accurate model for achievement is the shortest route to my dreams.  I can prospect for years in the mountains of opportunity and never find a gold nugget; a model tells me where to dig to uncover the mother lode.

Modeling starts me on the path of success using a plan that is proven to work.  But if I only copy the success of others, my success will be fleeting, and eventually I will fail.  Success is a moving target.  Modeling gets me in the front door and lets me hit the bull’s eye early in my career.  If I want to keep hitting it, my model for success will have to change with the times.  If I don’t keep moving forward, I will soon be left behind.

Modeling doesn’t guarantee perpetual success.  It gets me going in the right direction, but it’s only a start.  It places me on the frontier of success, and if I want to live on that frontier, I must extend my model into new territory consistent with what’s happening in the world.

Excerpt from :

Maximum Strength Positive Thinking : What to Say When You Talk to Your Mind

David J Abbott M.D.