The internet is full of tips on how to learn from [name of successful person]. The implication is that if you just do things their way, you'll have their success.
Usually, these tips are too general to be useful. Things like, "Be an original thinker, like Steve Jobs."
Sometimes they carry an unintentional irony: "If you want to be original, copy Picasso." Hmm.
Sometimes the tips are too specific. It may be that super-successful people X, Y, and Z get up at 5am and carry around a notebook, but it's far from clear that these are the reasons for their success. What if it's the fact that they all eat lasagna and do yoga?
As writer Dale Dauten points out, "People try to conform to success, but to be successful is to be a non-conformist." Even that is flawed advice if it leads somebody to think that being a non-conformist is, by itself, a formula for success. There are plenty of non-conformists sleeping in doorways.
For a while, Writing Magazine ran a series of articles on the theme of "How to Write Like Anton Chekhov" (or other great writers). I'm not saying you can't learn by studying Chekhov, who indeed is a wonderful writer, but writing like him has one requirement none of us can fulfill: being Anton Chekhov. As I mentioned in the previous post, imagining how he might solve a writing problem can lead you to a solution, but it won't actually be his, it'll be yours.
The moral, I think, is to write or draw, or paint, or whatever you do, your way. There's no guarantee it'll pay off, but at least you'll enjoy yourself.
