I used to be obsessed with copying success. If I only had the right blueprints, I could turn into something big. As I grow older and more experienced, I understand that success cannot be copied but rather it can be emulated.

Success, unlike a great recipe, cannot be copied or replicated 100 percent. The components of success are not finite. There are numerous factors that go into success.

If you ask one hundred successful couples what made them fall in love, you will get one hundred different answers. One couple might go camping while the other couple might visit the opera. One couple might travel the world while the other goes to baseball games.

There are also many intangibles that people don’t think about, such as the way someone shakes your hand, the general aura about them, their smile, how people react to a situation.

There are guiding principles for success, such as hard work, discipline, taking advantage of opportunities, reading, learning about life, and many more. These core disciplines should never be compromised.

A person should take a blueprint of success and make it their own. They should look at all the successful people they can. Look at what they do, compare their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, and see what works for them and what didn’t work.