Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existential philosopher, once said, "It took me 20 years to get Plato out of my system." We've all had teachers, mentors, role models or authority figures who have had tremendous influence over each of us, particularly during our formative years. But at some point, we realize that we have to release the influence of even the most awesome, august and inspiring authority figures in order to come into our own. An apprentice minister once called his mentor, a famous and successful minister, and said, "Jack, I've been trying to do things the way you do them and to be like you in my talks and now we are down to six people!" The famous minister replied, "Good! Now you can relax, be yourself and do it your way." When things aren't working, we can always ask ourselves: Am I being myself or am I trying to be like someone else? While it's comfortable and safe to be like our mentors and it's often scary and risky to be ourselves— when we are really who we are, we find our fulfillment. Be yourself!