You have an infinite number of life paths open to you.
Napoloen studied Julius Caeser who studied Alexander the Great who studied Homer’s Iliad.
Alexander slept with the Iliad under his pillow. Caesar reportedly wept in front of Alexander’s statue because, at the same age, he had accomplished so little. Napoleon’s advice to future commanders: read and reread the campaigns of the great captains. It’s the only way to become one.
When you have a big goal it helps to study and learn from those who live around us and those before us.
You only get so many rounds of trial and error in one life. But billions of people have already run the experiment. Which formulas worked? What lessons did they learn? Which trade-offs and sacrifices did they make that you aren’t making?
There’s a natural pull toward the habits and expectations of those around us. We become the average of our environment, and most people choose from one of the options below.
And if you don’t consciously choose your character, you just fall into one of these, or your environment chooses it for you.
Whatever you do, do it consciously and intentionally.
We can learn from the best around us now, but looking into history gives us more resources and pathways to learn from.
And this is what we naturally do. In a company, it’s easy to learn from the boss. In entrepreneurial environments, you have to seek out the archetypes yourself: the best people around you now, and the much bigger library of history.
So invest your time to save your time and choose your character.
You don’t need to pick just one, you can merge the best of many if their trade-offs are compatible or choose multiple ones in sequence like Arnold Scwhwarznegger did: bodybuilding champion, real estate millionaire, movie star, governor.
How do you choose?
Based on:
- Results / Goals
- Location
- Business
So choose your character.
Who’s yours?