You’ll never catch them if you just copy.
If you just copy what they do you’ll always be behind. First, because you are just copying them, they are the real thing, you’re a copy. Second, they have a lead on you…you’ve got to catch up. Here are some ideas to help you do just that and to go on past them to the top.
To beat the best you must be better than the best.
You can get ideas from them, but to be great you have to get things done your way. You have to work in a way that maximizes your strengths, not theirs. You can only be great being you. When you copy someone else you are essentially “posing” not “being.” You’re never really confident, you’re looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re doing it the “right” way. You can only be great being “you.”
First you have to get in position.
You have to catch up. How to do that?
- Get a game plan. Measure exactly how far in front they are.
- Work harder, longer to narrow the difference.
- Break that down into daily chunks
- Find ways to increase your activity to match theirs
- Each week, each month push to narrow the gap
- Take a little more risk. Drive a little harder.
- Challenge your team. Make it a game, a contest.
Then you have to drive past them.
All that’s happened so far is that you have earned the right to compete. They’ve been at the top for a while and they have learned some tricks about staying there. Now’s the time to narrow your focus and charge on by:
- Finding another gear of effort. Extra minutes add up.
- Inspiring your team by pushing yourself even harder
- Eliminating time wasting activities, projects and people
- Get more people involved, make it personal for all to win
- Creating some new incentives, contests, awards
- Keeping your team focused on the Championship
- Challenging them to stretch, everyone can always do a little more
Everyone has a slump eventually
If you keep the pressure on eventually they’ll crack. They’ll lose a key person, encounter a surprise disruption or more likely, get a little complacent. Pressure eventually wears on everyone. They have experience but you have energy, drive and hunger. That’s always the mark of the successful challenger. No one stays on top forever.
