We need to constantly battle our aping personality and learn to think for ourselves. But this is not always easy. God knows I've been trialed far too many times with such situations. Sometimes I've failed but happily more times I have not.
See seeking advice, specially from learned and/or experienced people, is not a bad thing. Getting inspired by another's achievements can have positive effects, but we just need to know where to draw the line.
As Thelonius rightly said that's the advantage of having a brain(to which I add a sufficiently functioning brain!)
Oh and to add: my faith, thankfully, also doesn't promote blind-following and monkey see monkey do!