“Men almost always walk in the paths beaten by others and act by imitation. Though he cannot hold strictly to the ways of others or match the ability of those he imitates, a prudent man must always tread the path of great men and imitate those who have excelled, so that even if his ability does not match theirs, at least he will achieve some semblance of it.
He should act like a prudent archer who, knowing the limitation of his bow and judging the target to be too far off, sets his aim still farther off, not to strike so distant a mark, but rather to strike the desired target through the more ambitious aim.”
– Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
After reading The Prince almost 2 years ago, I can now appreciate so many of the lessons that Machiavelli spoke of in his book. One of the most important lessons that I learned is that you must seemingly impossible goals for yourself.
As a young entrepreneur, you shouldn’t be setting kiddy goals for yourself. I know… I know… isn’t it great to be realistic? Nah, I never believed in the notion of “being realistic.”
Entrepreneurs can’t afford to be realistic. They can only afford to make their own reality. And the reality for an entrepreneur is bound to be completely different than the reality of what a typical person would deem “realistic.”
Machiavelli talks about following the paths of men who have done great things in life. I think that’s great advice. But I’d like to step that advice up a notch if I may. Personally, I look up to entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc…
The things that these entrepreneurs have done will remain in history for a lifetime. Hmm… am I giving them too much credit? No, I don’t think so. These innovators have truly changed the world and continue to do so. Their contributions to society speak for themselves.
I’m sure that we young entrepreneurs look up to these men of brilliance. But I don’t think that we should necessarily follow in their paths. To be fair to ourselves as ambitious young entrepreneurs, I think that our aim should be do “widen” their paths.
That is to say, to look at what these entrepreneurs have done and shoot to do even more! I mean, why not? What shouldn’t we set goals even higher than them? Only the young entrepreneurs who are crazy enough to believe that they can surpass these men’s accomplishments, will be the ones who have a chance.
If you spend your entire life pushing forward with your huge goals and trying to accomplish them by doing whatever it is that you have to do, then you’ll find yourself knocking down more barriers and gaining more feats than you’d ever image.
But in order for that to happen, it’s necessary for you to imprint those goals in your mind and allow them to get to work. Don’t start thinking big 10 years from now. Start thinking big now.
The world is your canvass and your business is your paintbrush. It’s up to you if you want create a masterpiece or not.
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This is a great write up Dave, enjoyed reading it during my MindpPetals hour, Thanks!
Thanks, Carolina! Ha, I like your Mind Petals Hour!