If you just copy what they do you’ll always be behind. First, because you are just copying them, they are the real thing, you’re a copy. Second, they have a lead on you…you’ve got to catch up. Here are some ideas to help you do just that and to go on past them to the top.
To beat the best you must be better than the best.
You can get ideas from them, but to be great you have to get things done your way. You have to work in a way that maximizes your strengths, not theirs. You can only be great being you. When you copy someone else you are essentially “posing” not “being.” You’re never really confident, you’re looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re doing it the “right” way. You can only be great being “you.”
First you have to get in position.
You have to catch up. How to do that?
Then you have to drive past them.
All that’s happened so far is that you have earned the right to compete. They’ve been at the top for a while and they have learned some tricks about staying there. Now’s the time to narrow your focus and charge on by:
Everyone has a slump eventually
If you keep the pressure on eventually they’ll crack. They’ll lose a key person, encounter a surprise disruption or more likely, get a little complacent. Pressure eventually wears on everyone. They have experience but you have energy, drive and hunger. That’s always the mark of the successful challenger. No one stays on top forever.
