Learn, copy and then add your own 10%!

Success leaves clues so why don't more people model the masters?

This is chapter 5 from my forthcoming book: The Rocking Chair Test.

A one-time colleague, Dave Koziupa, once shared with me another story:

“The top 100 people in an industry gather for a conference. The No1 person is asked to go on stage and share all the secrets of her success. She does it. She shares all her winning practices and habits. After her presentation, she is asked why she is isn’t concerned about giving all her secrets away. The No1 replies that, in her view, at least 50% of the audience weren’t listening and out of the rest, only a small number will have the strength and discipline needed to change their behaviour in any way. She ends by saying she will still be No1 the following year. She was—and by an even greater margin, for that matter.”

Initially, when I heard this story, I was disappointed in human behaviour. How can someone so successful openly share exactly what she is doing with the full knowledge that most others in her industry will do nothing differently? To me, it made no sense at all. Why are people’s eyes, ears, and minds so closed off to new learning, particularly when it is shared by someone who is currently more successful than they are?

I then saw the opportunity. What if I become one of the few people who do something new by applying the knowledge that has been shared with them?

I decided to seek successful people at every level— entrepreneurs, individuals I admired, leaders, companies, writers, and teams. I wanted to learn about and absorb all the things that made them successful. I looked at different sectors and parts of the world and saw constant learning as a competitive advantage—as long as the learning was implemented.

I captured all my insights in my journal. During my daily Mozart time, I had the opportunity to think about what I had seen, heard, and read, and then add my own ideas to it all.

By taking this approach and applying the learning to my current and future plans, not only did my performance improve, but my team’s performance did as well. This is common sense, but certainly not common practice., Too many people are closed off to new ideas while others let their ego get in the way. I was taught that ego is the enemy of achievement.

Others have a cynical view of success, putting it down to factors like luck, or creating self-limiting beliefs about why they cannot be successful, why it is easier for others or that they have tried it before and it’s not for them. I believe this is why so few people actually changed as a result of listening to the No1. I am sure phrases like ‘It’s easier for her.’ ‘I’ve tried it before’ or ‘that wouldn’t work for me as my customers are different’ would have been heard at the coffee break following the session!

My mantra is to learn, copy, and add my own 10% winning edge (L/C+10%). Learn from people who are achieving success in what they do, copy what they are doing, and then add 10% to improve upon the practice. This mentality and approach are simply about seeking continuous improvement.

Why invest time, effort and/or money to reinvent the wheel, when others are already operating at a high standard and achieving great success?

Together, Mozart time, journaling and L/C+10% are a great combination and helped significantly over many years. Then, at a client offsite, one of the attendees, Paul Tucker, advanced my thinking further. Paul suggested that sometimes, you can copy a winning behaviour, while at other times, you need to adapt the practice to find your own 10% (L/A+10%). He was implying that in some situations you can find great learnings from others, but a direct copy may not be appropriate. The idea or practice has value, but you need to take some Mozart time to work through how to apply it in your current circumstance and/or environment. 

Feedback is the breakfast of champions and I love to see others helping me improve my own thinking and content. As you work through this book, please feel free to do the same. As you work with the GiFTs, adapt them as needed to make them work for you and those around you.

The critical factor is having a relentless appetite to learn and improve by seeking out successful people, practices and systems and then acting in your own environment, so you continue to move forward and improve. Do this in as many ways as possible from formal learning to reading, to audio books, podcasts, YouTube videos, articles, LinkedIn and other social content to e-zines, blogs, courses, seminars and having a coffee or breakfast with someone you admire and respect.

Questions for you:

• Do you actively seek new learning? How?

• How and where do you capture the learnings?

• How do you reflect and review those learnings?

• What do you do with the new knowledge?

• Think back to a recent book you read, video you watched, podcast you listened to, coffee you had with some you admire, course or seminar you attended. What did you learn?

• What have you done differently because of the learning?