On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

If you study the lives of enough successful creators, it becomes obvious that most world-class performers in all fields — musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, dancers, etc. — had incredible mentors, coaches or role models who made the activity of practice worthwhile and rewarding.

If you can speak with a mentor face to face, that’s incredible — do so! But keep in mind that just observing a mentor works wonders too. When we observe someone we want to learn from, and we have a crystal-clear idea of what we want to create for ourselves, it unlocks a tremendous amount of motivation. Human beings are socially inclined and, when we get the idea that we want to join some elite circle up above us, it really motivates us to achieve greatness. “Look, they did it. I can do it too!” It may sound overly simplistic, but spending time studying people who are great is an essential building block for mastering your craft and cultivating your creativity at the same time.

In his bestselling book Mastery, Robert Greene emphasizes the importance of studying the work of others using Mozart as an example. Here’s an excerpt:

“Throughout his career, Mozart never asserted any particular opinions about music. Instead, he absorbed the styles he heard around himself and incorporated them into his own musical voice. Late in his career he encountered for the first time the music of Johann Sebastian Bach — a kind of music very different from his own, and in some ways more complex. Most artists would grow defensive and dismissive of something that challenged their own principles. Instead, Mozart opened his mind up to new possibilities, studying Bach’s style for nearly a year and absorbing it into his own vocabulary. This gave Mozart’s newest music a fresh and surprising creative quality.”

The bottom line is that studying mentors and other experts can help you diversify your own creative output, cross-pollinate ideas and strategies, and introduce you to new approaches and ways of thinking. Not everything others do will be relevant to you of course, but it will help refine and develop your style and tailor it to your own unique creative goals.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.