Do not copy the achievements of great people

It is my pleasure to pick up a quotation, which I originally thought was by the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, but actually seems to originate from the poet Muriel Strode:

I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.

I am especially happy to use the quotation here because it fits so well with a headline, I collected at a lecture on creativity and innovation a number of years ago: "Do not copy the achievements of great people - become great in your own right".
It is so obviously right, when you look at it: if one has the desire to become great, it will actually not happen by following the path of others, copying their great achievements, but rather by following one's own path and discover new ground - and as a matter of fact it is quite possible that even if one has no ambitions to become great, one will becomes one's best self in the happiest way if not following a great role model's beaten path.
It may well happen that it will not be quite as easy - but it has a certain probability to become a more interesting, funnier and more exciting process.
(Translated from Kopier ikke de store, originally published July 23, 2013)