There is a little nuance to keep in mind before reading about the next myth. There is absolutely nothing wrong with looking at past proposals that have been funded. The problem comes when they’re treated as a template or viewed as the ONLY way to write a competitive proposal.
There are two reasons why this is an unhelpful myth to hold on to.
First, how can you demonstrate that you are leading within your research area if you’re doing what everyone else already does? As a result of modelling current proposals on previous ones, many aspects of grant applications now look more or less the same. Everyone publishes in high-impact journals. Everyone will host a workshop to disseminate the results of the project. Everyone is involved in their university’s Open Day as a form of public engagement.
The question to ask is how can you stand out from the crowd in a positive way? What can you do in addition to the standard responses? Go ahead and publish in high-impact journals … but could you also write for trade magazines to bring your work to the attention of industry? Participate in an Open Day or two … but why not also launch a blog or a podcast? Rather than put on yet another meeting that people have to attend, why not run a session at an existing conference?
This naturally leads to the second question that is fundamental to writing a competitive proposal.
Does what you want to include make sense for the particular project you want to carry out? Including something just because a successfully funded project did it overlooks the fact that the project didn’t get funded because they specifically did X. Instead, reviewers considered that X would enhance the particular project in some way. And, sometimes, proposals get funded despite what they include, rather than because of it!
So, go ahead and check out previously funded projects … but also take the time to determine what will work best you and your specific research project, rather than what was suitable for your colleague down the hall.