Achieve Success in Everything Through C.A.S.E.

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I spend a lot of time thinking about success. It is one of the most fascinating topics we can encounter in life because everyone values and desires success to a certain degree. How we define success, respond to success, measure success, and seek to achieve success can vary significantly from person to person. However we choose to shape the model of success, one thing is clear: we all look to others in varying degrees as we shape our own success paradigms.

When I was a kid, I shot hoops in the driveway and envisioned what it would be like to be Michael Jordan. Though I wasn’t a Chicago Bulls fan, I was an MJ admirer. I watched his games, checked box scores, and read his interviews. I learned that Jordan often spent many hours practicing his skills outside on the family hoop, even if meant practicing in the dark and rain. This seemed like a smart idea to me, so I began began doing additional shooting drills in the dark and rain. That year, I became a starter on the school basketball team.

Around the same time, I began playing competitive chess and was drawn to Frank Brady’s Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy, which outlined the noteworthy, up-and-down life of the genius chess champion. I became enamored with the work ethic, drive, and determination exhibited by Fischer, and once again, I patterned some of my study habits after Fischer. I played over hundreds, if not thousands, of games of masters like Capablanca, Morphy, and Lasker, often taking detailed notes while being careful not to tip off my parents that I was still awake and studying into the early morning hours. Later that year, I won my division in the Michigan Amateur Chess Championship.

I had no idea at the time that my method of seeking success – emulation – was common. A kid acting on intuition doesn’t think about these things in this way. But over time, I found that my practice of following the paths of the greats was paying off handsomely.

Somewhere along the way growing up, I lost my way and stopped doing many of the things that had made me successful. I sought my own path, which was primarily built upon hard work. When others grew tired or decided to quit, I dug a little deeper and worked a little longer.

Sometimes it worked out, and sometimes it did not. Now, at the comparatively-ripe age of 30, experience has reminded me that there is a smarter way to achieve success in everything: C.A.S.E.

Achieve Success and Build Momentum Using C.A.S.E. (Copy and Steal Everything)

In the last year, I have become increasingly interested in returning to my intuitive childhood roots and studying the lives and habits of all sorts of top performers like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and even Jordan and Fischer. In Outliers: The Story of Success author Malcolm Gladwell consistently attributes the success of top performers to what he calls the 10,000 Hour Rule. Through countless examples, he reasons that most successes can be attributed to practicing a skill the correct way over and over and over. Finding that “correct” way is best achieved by examining others’ habits and practices.

In other words, we should copy and steal everything if we want to put ourselves on the path toward success. If it is true that we are what we repeatedly do, then success can often be as simple as repeatedly doing what the top performers do enough times that it becomes who we are at our cores.

Am I advocating that we need to become a version of someone else before we can become the best version of ourselves? Not necessarily. But it might not be a bad path to getting there. Maybe the way to achieve brilliant success is not to blaze an entirely unique trail, but to spend some time on the trail blazed by others first. Consider this a sort of internship in success, if you will.

If you have goals and feel that you aren’t successful at this time, consider utilizing the C.A.S.E. method to jump start your progress. I recommend considering the following points before you start, as they will support your efforts to achieve success.

Craft Your Own Definition of Success

Following a blueprint to achieve success without actually pausing to consider what it is you wish to achieve is a major stumbling block for many ambitious people. They are heading completely in the wrong direction, but they’re just happy to be making excellent time! Be sure that you fully consider what success looks like to you before you take specific action.

If you don’t chart a path to achieve success as you see it, you will find yourself copying the life and values of another person. This approach has severe limitations, most notably that you are not exactly the same as others. The skills you possess will influence the path you take to achieve success.

For anyone who lacks understanding of his skills,  StrengthsFinder 2.0 remains my most treasured guide for discovering them. For mere pizza money, the book has had a profound impact on the direction of my life.

Copy and Steal From the Right People

Once you’ve defined your goal, it is important that you copy and steal from the right person. You must identify someone who has taken steps to achieve success in an area that is at least similar to your vision.

While you’re at it, do not limit yourself to emulating only one high achiever. We all stand to learn at least one piece of actionable knowledge from virtually any top performer.

Compare Yourself to the High Performers You Select

I’m a firm believer in the notion that comparison is the thief of joy, but I also believe this idea has its limitations. We can compare ourselves to others in a manner that brings us down, or we can identify strengths that we see in ourselves which are also manifested in the lives of others.

Before you identify a top performer to emulate, it is important that you first find common ground with that person. Fortunately, finding shared attributes with high performers is not highly difficult in most cases, but if overlapping strengths are not readily apparent to you, it may be time to look elsewhere.

For example, if you’re a writer who works best after a day’s worth of thought, movement, and exercise have taken the edge off, emulating a writer like Hemingway (who famously rose early to write each day) won’t likely work for you.

Don’t Rely on C.A.S.E. to Solve Everything

Personal growth guru Tony Robbins said, “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.” Actress Judy Garland reportedly said, “Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.” The key to successful implementation of the C.A.S.E. method lies at the intersection of these two quotes – we should seek to emulate top performers who have achieved the success we desire while also remaining true to ourselves.

By starting with an understanding of your own values and what you hope to achieve, it is possible to copy others without becoming them. Surely copying others has its limitations, but human intuition cannot be entirely wrong. C.A.S.E. alone won’t solve all of your problems – whether they’re tied to your career, marriage, spending, or investments – but when utilized properly, it can jump start the pursuit of your dreams and help you to achieve success.

Readers, do you implement aspects of the C.A.S.E. method? If not, what is your primary method for seeking to achieve success?

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