Briefly described, Social-Proof is that phenomena where people look to others to make up their mind on a particular subject and will then accept whatever they observed as being the gospel truth. Social-Proof is the reason that people in communities tend think alike and have a culture that is specific and restricted to that area.

At best, Social-Proof may offer a point of view where none existed before and in the worst-case scenario, it fosters the herd mentality where the loudest and most vocal individuals or medias form the general opinion. Not an ideal situation.

It is a fundamental axiom that, if we think and act like most people do, we will achieve and reap what the average person does. Without being overly judgmental, I believe that it would be safe to say that we can aspire to get more than that out of life.

If we aspire to a better quality of life than what we see around us, we have no choice but to affect a shift away from the popular paradigm and think and act outside the box. The quality of our life is mostly affected by the actions that we take and the decisions that we make. It we refer to Social-Proof to take our actions and make our decisions, it stands to reason that we will share the common lot.

Now it is a hard fact that we do need guidance and role models. Rediscovering fire and reinventing the wheel is far from being practical or even feasible. We need road maps for life, we need guidelines and effective plans of action. If Social-Proof offers no reliable references, where can turn to get them?

There is a plethora of great men and women who have already achieved what we hope to achieve and lived the quality of life that we aspire to have. That is where we need to look. That is where reliable inspiration and information can be found. Those are the people that we should study and emulate.

At first sight, tailoring our lives against those models seems to be a daunting if not impossible task. Actually it is not more difficult than any other major undertaking. It could be compared to a College education in terms of efforts and studies with the obvious advantage that it can be done leisurely over a longer period of time.

Nothing worthwhile is ever simple or easy. Emulating the greats is no exception. When we first consider the idea of doing it, the question that first comes to mind is, "Is it worth the effort?" The answer to that lies within another question, "How important is it to enjoy a successful, meaningful and happy life?" Once asked, both questions become non sequitur.

It is impossible to follow a path that leads to failure and expect to succeed. In life as in the science of physic, results are predictable. It is always, action, reaction, and result. It never fails. It does not matter whether we believe that to be true or not.

If an ingredient is not added to a recipe, it will not magically appear in the finished product. If the things that need to be done to achieve the results that we want are not performed, those results will not happen. Life deals with facts, not with wishful thinking.

We have but one life to live. Since we want a great life, we need and we seek information and guidance to direct our actions and decisions. In doing so, we face two options. We can either chose to follow the Social-Proofs and reap the average person's lot or we can turn to the Master for guidance and inspiration and have a fantastic life.

At first sight, the latter choice may seem to be the most difficult road to follow. It is not. When everything is considered, it is the only worthwhile option. That's what the Masters did and that's what we need to do if we want to achieve and obtain what they, themselves, did.