I experienced a striking epiphanic moment around this years ago when I was running every day. One morning I was jogging on a school track a few yards behind a guy whose running style I thought looked spare and effortless compared to mine, which felt labored and awkward. I changed my stride to emulate his and immediately took a nasty fall, skinning myself up pretty good – and in the instant I was falling I realized how futile it was to try to copy someone else rather than to be (or at least try to be) my own man. I don’t jog anymore and haven’t always been successful at following that lesson in other areas of my life, but I’ve never forgotten it.