Watching your competition can be revealing.

Watching your competition watch you can be even more eye-opening. 

I was out on a hike last week with my family when my 3-year old son said he was tired of walking and asked to be carried.

As I carried him the rest of the way, I realized he was observing me because he soon started imitating me. 

My breathing had become heavier, and my tongue was hanging out in exhaustion as we neared our car.

Even though I was carrying him, he also started to breathe heavily and hang his tongue out as it gave him the feeling that he was hiking back to the car on foot. 

When we look outward rather than inward or at the target, we tend to see what others are doing and sometimes end up needlessly imitating them.

Adapt as needed to fill your quiver, but don’t copy and paste mindlessly as that’ll be just copy and waste. 

Trim your efforts and conserve your energy for the tasks that really matter.