I was having breakfast with Emmit Smith last week, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones came up in conversation.
Emmit said: “One of the smartest things I did after being drafted was to ask Jerry if I could just hang out in his office and listen to him all day - all the conversations he’d have. It was the best thing I ever did.”
See, to be successful in business - and in life - you have to learn from people that you’re not normally accustomed to being around.
Here's Emmit Smith, a first-round NFL draft pick, a 21-year-old kid, who had the wherewithal to think, "I know this game of football, I have that down. But making money, and business deals, and things like that, I don’t know. So I'm going to latch onto someone who does."
This was a classic example of "dig the well before you're thirsty."
Everyone's so busy all the time with their current problems that they don't think to solve future problems before they come up.
Shadowing someone who's traveled the path you want to travel - using them as a mentor - is a very good way to do that.
So - Who do you want to be like?
And have you started shadowing them?
