YOU'RE NOT A COPY

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." - Herman Melville

Michael Fred Phelps II, is the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 22 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals. In winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps took the record for the most first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four golds and two silver medals, making him the most successful athlete of the Games for the third Olympics in a row. What an introduction.

C. S. Lewis said, "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." Just reading Phelps introduction feels so dramatically astounding. What a swimmer he is.

You'll agree.

Michael Phelps' secret is, staying in his sphere of influence. Swimming. He started swimming at the age of about seven, and he stayed there. He didn't try being a footballer. He didn't try to be someone else, he just did what came naturally to him. Swim. The message? Don't be a copy, or an imitation. Don't try to be Michael Jackson, be you. It's a waste of time envying someone else. If you stay in your calling, soon you'll be envied too. It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. Shalom!