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Importance of role model

A role model is essentially someone we admire and look up to for the positive qualities they exhibit. These can include Perseverance, Humility, Honesty, Optimism and Leadership Skills.

They can range from a family member to a respectable leader/influencer in society, and during times of despair or uncertainty we can attempt to envision what route they might have taken in the same situation.

This is the underlying meaning of what a role model can mean to someone, but it can take up several forms which we will take a look at now.

Most of us on this planet strive to be a respectable person in society and having someone to look up to and help guide you along the way can be instrumental in the way your character develops as time progresses.

An ideal example of this is our parents and family. The environment and manner in which we are brought up can make or break our future.

When our family or the ones living around us possess positive qualities, we tend to get influenced by them especially at a young and impressionable age. This is also a lesson for us to derive the positive qualities from someone instead of grumbling about what they don’t possess.

Let’s have a look at some mainstream leaders and influencers, who have displayed great qualities.

Perseverance - JK Rowling was in shambles and didn’t even have enough money to feed her own child. This extremely grim situation would have had an intense mental impact on anyone, and naturally Rowling too. But even during these times of unfathomable hardship with no hope in sight, she spent her time and effort with the dream of hopefully publishing her book (Harry potter and the Philosopher’s stone). After endless rejections, her book was eventually published after the daughter of the CEO of a publishing company namely Bloomsburg fell in love with it. And here we are today, Rowling is the most popular author of all time.

Humility - Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was the former President of India reaching the highest of the high, but his virtues and down to earth nature is something to learn from. He was a leader; brilliant yet humble, and lived simply but dreamed big attempting to envision India’s state in 2020 with the book “India 2020” and is something for India as a whole to work towards together.

He was a lifelong learner who generously shared what he learned through multiple seminars, educating the youth as they are the future citizens. He was so humble, approachable and devoted to what he did that he even gave out his email to students and actually replied to each one of them. No wonder the UN declared his birthday (Oct 15) as World Students Day!

Leadership skills - Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Captain cool, The Finisher. A prime example of what a leader should strive to be. He guided the Indian Cricket team to glory multiple times, all while not succumbing to overconfidence and maintaining a calm attitude. Through thick and thin his confidence, commitment and mentality didn’t change and he took every match as an opportunity to improvise for the future.