Follow the Follower

Years ago, in a small store on Main Street, a shopkeeper placed a large grandfather clock in his front window. The next morning, he saw a man walk by, take out his pocket watch, adjust the watch, put it back in his pocket and walk away. Every single morning for the next four years, the shopkeeper observed this morning ritual. Then one morning the shopkeeper was out sweeping the sidewalk when the man passed by, took out his watch, adjusted it, and put it back in his pocket.

"Excuse me," said the shopkeeper, "but I've been watching you do this every morning for four years now. Can you tell me why?"

"Certainly," said the man. "I'm the foreman down at the mill. I blow the quitting whistle at five o'clock every day, and I want to be sure my people get out on time."

"You're kidding," said the shopkeeper. "I've been setting my grandfather clock to your five o'clock whistle all these years!"

The shopkeeper and the mill foreman, like many of us in today's society, were caught up in a game called "follow the follower." Instead of conducting our own investigation or finding someone who truly has the qualities we wish to emulate, we take on the group mentality. We want to be ourselves, but we're afraid to be "different."

There's nothing inherently wrong with following. It's one of the best ways to learn. High achievers are constantly studying other people and their methods of accomplishment. The difference is that they are very particular about the people they choose to learn from. They look for people whose values match their own and who have achieved excellence in their field. They surround themselves with models of success.

You can have unbelievable intelligence, you can have connections, you can have opportunities fall out of the sky. But in the end, hard work is the true, enduring characteristic of successful people.

—Marsha Evans,
writer