You’ll hear young, recently drafted professional athletes get asked which player they grew up emulating. Every kid will have a favourite player that they pretend to be, and as they get older, they may even take over some of the traits that their hero is known for.
It’s not uncommon for an up and coming professional to be asked which current player they would most closely model their game after in a pre draft interview. Why? Because it’s a copycat league. At least that’s what they say about the NHL. Those who have had great success are envied, and therefore copied.
This past Spring, the Caroline Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, and what makes them unique as champions is the fact that their winning formula will be very difficult to emulate. The Associated Press quoted several players from across the league in a recent article that illustrated that to duplicate the Hurricanes playing style is not as simple as strategy. But at the same time, they all know it’s the best and wish they could bring that same game to their own teams.
If an organization wants to be the best, it’s prudent to take notes from those who are already at the top.
If you want to do what they do, then do what they do, and this can go for anything.
That being said, I know we’re not all trying to win championships. Often enough, it’s plenty difficult just to figure out our own personalities and how we want to represent ourselves as individuals. It’s one thing to try to win a championship, but it’s another to make the ever so valiant efforts at becoming someone who positively contributes to the world.
So consider becoming a copycat at the individual level. Personally, most of what I say and do is entirely unoriginal. Ninety to ninety five percent of what I say is a direct quote from a Christmas movie, and here’s why that’s great. I don’t have to think about what to say as much because I’ve got a repertoire of phrases ready to go at any moment, and most people never pick up on it.
I copy things I see, hear and read non stop. The great part is that it doesn’t appear to be that way because it doesn’t all come from the same place. I’ll use phrases from Christmas movies, gestures I saw on Friends, and the same pauses between words that Jim Rohn did. Combined, I can give the illusion that I’ve got enough charisma to be someone important to pay attention to.
It’s all an act, but a carefully designed one. I mean if a young hockey player gets really good at acting and playing like Connor Bedard, that young hockey player will probably have a bright future in the game. At least if he sprinkles in a little Sidney Crosby and Nikita Kucherov as well.
That’s the great thing about being a copycat on purpose. You can pick and choose the good stuff from as many places as you want to form your own actions. It’s like what Jim Rohn used to always say about the famous book, Think and Grow Rich. He’d say that the author, Napoleon Hill, was a little weird. But then he’d go on to say that that’s okay, just don’t do the weird stuff!
That particular book and that particular author have been highly scrutinized in recent years by public figures that I admire. At first I was a bit bothered because I’ve always held Think and Grow Rich in high regard. It made me wonder if I had it all wrong, but now I don’t think I do.
I still think you ought to read that book if you haven’t before, even though some other smart, educated, respected people say it’s garbage. The reason is because regardless of any garbage that may or may not exist, there’s been enough good stuff in there for me to emulate and improve my life with that I don’t care.
At the same time, I still admire and tune in the what the folks who’ve blasted that book say, because they’ve got some great material that I’d like to continue copying.
Feel free to take a little bit of this and a little bit of that to become your own version of a person or a team. There’s some great stuff out there, and it’s too difficult to make things up as you go, so pay attention when you watch movies. Take people watching seriously. Read more, listen more, and if ever you hear something good, remember to take note and say affirmatively, “I could totally use that.”
See you next Thursday.
— Cody
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