Why You Need to Find a Role Model

Mark Twain once said, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too, can become great.” True role models generate motivation. He or she proved that it could be done. And if he can do it, so can you.

Reading about how someone else achieved success creates beliefs in you that your goal is possible. It energizes you.

Successful people have role models. Here are a few examples:

· Arnold Schwarzenegger found his role model, Reg Park, in a bodybuilding magazine. Reg was the most powerful person at the time, and Arnold dreamed of having huge muscles like Reg's. Arnold learned everything he could about Reg: his training routine, his diet, his lifestyle. The more he learned about Reg and followed his example, the more Arnold realized it was possible for him to become like Reg. (Source: Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey)

· Pete Sampras. Born in 1971, tennis great Pete Sampras grew up idolizing his role model-the great tennis champ Rod Laver of Australia. Young Pete dreamed how one day he would also play in the U.S. Open.

As a sixteen-year-old qualifier, Pete started getting noticed on the tennis tour in 1988. He played a game called “dangerous.” It took him two years to reach the top ten, and along the way he defeated several of the great tennis legends. He won his first Grand Slam title in 1990 with an unbelievable serve that stunned players like Agassi, Lendl, and McEnroe. At nineteen, Pete was the youngest tennis player ever to win the coveted U.S. Open cup.

Today Pete is one of the most admired all-American tennis players. He is a versatile player who masters any situation. He has integrity in the way he plays and in the way he lives his life. His determination is an inspiration to others, and a motivating force among our youth. (Source: www.rolemodel.net)

· Babe Ruth. Even the greatest slugger of all time-Babe Ruth-had a role model. He said that he would spend hours trying to copy the powerful swing of Joe Jackson, better known as Joe Shoeless Jackson. If even the great Babe Ruth had a role model, I think you and I could use one too!