To be successful in life, one should have the characteristic of being different , that is, he/she has the ability to change people commonly think. Through being different from others, one is capable of gaining some idiosyncratic opinions,concentrating on the right taget, thereby making a wise decision.
Tradional ways of thinking are treatures which will prevent us from wasting time and energy on trial things. Naturally to make new contributions in any field of study, scholars and scients should first master the existing work done by their fellow scholars and scientists.  There is no doubt that sometimes we should draw on the experience of others in order to make up something. It seems to be a short step from imitating to creating. However, think different from others have more effect on creating new things than being more like others. In other words, we can create nothing if we are only confined to the conventional experience.
In addition, those people who succeed in their fields behave more like being different from others. Stephen King, an American author of comtemporary horror, science,and fiction,his early inspiration derived from a experience that he witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train. Some commentators have suggested that this event may have psychologically inspired some of King's works. Furthermore the success of apple computer corporation indicates the view strongly. Steve Jobs, who was the co-founder of apple computer inc,behaved more like himself than being like others introduced the long-anticipated iphone that changed the world and the way of life.
In sum, I disagree with the though that in order to succeed people should be more like others than be different from everyone else. Although we sometimes need to learn something by repeate the predecessor's work, we should not forget to being different.