I recently watched a YouTube video from Strength Coach Eugene Teo, listed below and he had an amazing line – Success Leaves Clues.
In the video, he highlighted that elite powerlifter Eddie Hall did things that worked for him and his particular body shape and structure which makes him a formidable man mountain but might not work for you.
Coach Teo breaks down Hall’s deadlifting technique and how his particular huge rig has pros and cons which he has to work around in order to achieve the gargantuan lifts.
The concept that jumped out at me was Success Leaves Clues, by that he means you need to be aware of the general processes of performance while balancing the specific processes afterwards.
Shape and Structure
It is good to look at other successful people and try to copy what they did. It makes sense as it is a proven process of what works.
The challenge is that they might have succeeded despite themselves.
As Coach Teo points out, Eddie is doing a lot of things sub-optimally for a normal person, they just happen to be needed to overcome some of his physical challenges.
Copying
You do want to copy what worked, but you need to establish what worked in general and what worked specifically for the person.
What works, in general, can apply to you. What worked specifically for them might not work out as well for you.
To be a great basketballer, you need to put in many hours in the gym, working on your game. This is a given. But you can’t train to be taller. No amount of work will give you that result.
They didn’t get tall because they played basketball, they played basketball because they are tall.
Broad and Clear
Think of the broad principles that are in play, in your team, in your business, in your field, and in your industry. How can you be great at them?
Think about your particular, unique, and rare skills/experiences that you or your team have that you can utilise to generate a point of difference.
Success leaves clues so follow them, but no your path will be different to theirs.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 