By David Tepera, May 20, 2020
Throughout my entire life, there were, and are, many people whom I respect and admire. For each of these people that I spent time with, I would try to mimic certain quality characteristics. My goal in life is to become a better father, husband, friend and person each day.
Of course, through my childhood, Dad was my superhero, so when I became a father, I mirrored his teachings and expressions of love. Believe me, Mom was a huge part of all this, too.
When I played multiple sports, I studied the older players with more experience. I would take a strong point from each and mold it into my arsenal of athleticism.
Many moons ago, during my martial art competition years, I was interviewed about my skills. I told the reporter that I was a combination of kicks and punches from each of my fellow black belts. My sidekick had the power of Grand Master Al Garza and quick delivering ridge-hand from the late Mike Tucker.
During the 1990s, as a La Marque High School football coach, I studied head coach Alan Weddell. He was a master when it came to the community, administrators, referees, assistant coaches and, of course, the players. I mirrored those skills as the head soccer coach. And yes, we made the playoffs, too.
Once I left teaching and coaching, I furthered my education and spent 20 years in orthopedics. There were many surgeons I mimicked from their surgery skills.
In case you’re curious, part of my job was training surgeons how to perform specific knee replacements and biosurgery procedures on cadavers. I easily dissected more than 500 people and was involved in about 4,000 actual orthopedic surgeries.
I hope you noticed that none of my mentors were movie stars, superstars or professional athletes. The only way to truly pick up strong traits from others is by spending time with them.
Tina and I took all our experiences to help create a unique brand and specialty weight training program at our Ageless Muscle Fitness Center.
Now, the real question is who do you admire and respect? Are these people involved in the same interests as you? What quality traits of these people would help enhance your life?
Wherever you work, look for the leadership skills of supervisors and the people at the top. Carry yourself with confidence as if you are equal to their pay scale. Mirror their actions and treat people with respect. You’ll be noticed and better opportunities will come.
The most rewarding part of this whole process is as you grow to become a better person and leader, there will be others who will mirror you out of respect and admiration.