Each of us is blessed with certain talents and gifts that makes us one-of-a-kind individuals. Some people are great dancers, while others can't tap their feet to the beat. Some of us have a talent of art, while others have trouble drawing a stick figure. Some of us are great athletes, while others can barely walk a straight line without stumbling.
But one thing each and every one of us is good at – WITHOUT EXCEPTION – is COPYCATTING.
When it comes to copycat we are all gifted. We're copycat geniuses!
Copycatting is one trait we all excel at and that we all have in common, no matter where we live, no matter what our individual talents are. It makes no difference whether we are rich or poor… black or white…. male or female.. the one thing we're all great is copycatting.
There are countless differences between cultures, but the one thing every, single culture has in common is the way we go about learning the customs we practice – we COPYCAT! We copycat so much that we take it for granted. Copy catting is so prevalent that its second nature to us, like breathing air. So I ask you again, why haven't we found a way to copycat creating wealth?
Make no mistake about it, copycatting is the most powerful learning tool known to humans! Copycatting impacts virtually every single phase of our lives, from our smallest habits to our life-altering decisions.
For example, we spend a big part of our lives at work. Did you ever stop to consider how you learned to perform the tasks you perform at work? How did you learn to write a letter on the computer? How did you know what to wear to the office? And how did you teach others who were new the job? By teaching them to copycat what you did, isn't that true? The psychologists call it "modeling and mirroring." I call it being a professional copycat!
No questions, we copycat our way through life from the cradle the grave because copycatting is easy to do … we don't have to keep creating everything from scratch all the time … it works … and we're born geniuses at it! The expression "Monkey see, Monkey do" could just as easily be "people see, people do."
That's why I say we live in a world of copycats. If there's one thing every person in this world is good at-it's copycatting!
How we copied Jobs
We even go so far as to copycat how we earn money. For thousands of year children of farmers copycatted their parents and became farmers … children of shoemakers became shoemakers. That's why so many of our last names come from the trades, names like Farmer, Smith, Carpenter, Tailor and so on.
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, millions of children with last names like Farmer, Smith, Carpenter, Tailor broke away from the trade and headed to the city to copycat a new concept of work-the job. Copycatting the job worked pretty well for several generations, especially in America, the undisputed king of the Industrial Revolution.
Because the first half of the 20th century was overshadowed by two world wars and the great depression, most people were overjoyed to copycat their family and friends and work a nine-to-five job. And as long people's expectation didn't exceed their standard of living, people who copycatted the "gotta-get-a-job" mentality were content with what they had.
Think before you Copycat
Like most everything in life, there's a flip side to copycatting. Just because we copycat something doesn't necessarily make it good… or efficient… or productive. Unfortunately, all too often is an excuse to get lazy in our thinking.
It reminds me of the story about the old shopkeeper on Main Street who placed a grandfather clock in the front window of his store. Over the years the shopkeeper noticed that a distinguished looking man would walk by the store every day at noon… pause in front of the grandfather clock… pull out a pocket watch… and carefully set the time.
One day the shopkeeper's curiosity got the best of him. When the gentle man paused in front of the grandfather clock, the shopkeeper ran out of the store and asked the man why he set his watch each and every day.
The man smiled and replied "I am the foreman at the Town Mill. I blow the quitting whistle at 5:00 pm each day and want to be sure it goes off exactly on time."
The old shopkeeper gave him a startled look – and then burst out laughing. The man stepped back and then asked indignantly, "What so funny?"
"I am sorry." replied the shopkeeper. "I didn't mean to be rude. But I just had to laugh. You see, all these years I have been setting my grandfather clock at your 5:00 pm whistle!"
The story is perfect illustration of the downside of copycatting. We copy others… others copy us…. and all too often we assume that the people we are copying have the "right answer". I repeat, we ASSUME we are copying the right people.
That's exactly what happens when we take a job without really thinking about WHY we took the job. I think most people assume that jobs are the best way to create wealth, when in fact, jobs don't create True Wealth – jobs create Temporary Income. And there's a big, Big difference between the two.
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