If you scroll long enough on any social media feed eventually a story will show up with a title like “The Top Ten Ways to be Successful” or “Emperor Caesar’s Habits for Success.” The gist of these articles is that copying the things successful people do will inevitably lead you to success too. But is that true?

According to Darious Foroux, copying the actions of seemingly successful people is no guarantee of success for yourself. In his article, Stop Imitating The Habits Of Successful People: It’s Killing You, he points out the main flaw with all these Internet advice pieces.

They always focus on the outcome. Not the process. Studying, learning, and stealing productive habits or tactics are all smart things to do. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I talk about people who only focus on the outcome. I.e. success.

Also, everyone pretends that the word success has nothing to do with money and status. But that’s simply not true. When we talk about success, we all talk about getting rich. Just be honest.

For Foroux, success is not simply a matter of counting your money to keep score. Success is much more varied than that. He adds:

But let’s keep it real and not pretend that “only you can determine the definition of success,” and then talk about the habits of millionaires. 

Foroux then points out the flaw in the logic of copying the actions of notable people. It is simply that mindlessly following habits alone does very little to help us achieve our goals.

For instance, take waking up early. That’s always part of the lists of habits. But waking up is not a skill that does something. When you try to imitate a rich person who wakes up early, will you become rich by waking up early?

That’s why I find it odd that people try to imitate successful people. What’s the point? Even if you know the EXACT ingredients of success, it’s no good to you.

To hear what Foroux suggests instead, please visit his website to read the rest of his article.