James Laughlin uses a stage anecdote about a 6'5" audience member to show why copying others doesn't work. When the tall man's hand is three inches larger, the same action looks different on him. The point: vary what you do to suit yourself, not to match someone else.
Five three (5'3")
Six five (6'5")
Three inches larger
Sometimes when I'm giving these talks, I'll look in the audience and see if there's a big person. Usually for some reason, I attract six foot five men. All right, so I'll invite one of these six foot five men to the stage. Now, here we look silly. I'm five three. He's six five. Now I'll ask him to put his hand up. I put my hand next to his. His hand is three inches larger than mine. And then I just raise the question, should we do anything physical the same way? I think not. So the more different you are from the person who wrote the rule, the more important it is for you. Vary what you're doing so that it suits you. Otherwise you're never going to be as good as he is.
