Paul wrote it: "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ Jesus." Can I say the same? What am I asking others to imitate, or to become? Is it one growing in the likeness of Jesus? One who is balanced? One who is passionate? A representative of Jesus? Or some sort of self-centered, distorted parody of a Christian?
Paul isn't saying he is exactly like Jesus. He's explaining how he tries to
imitate Jesus. Thus, imitating him is trying to imitate Jesus. You can
succeed at imitating Paul, but not Jesus.
I think it doesn't make any difference, Paul's key principle was to act as Christ does and fully relaying in God through Christ in whatever he does. Remember most people get inspired by what you do and strive to do it also. Most successful people write books on how to get rich and people do exactly what they say because the key principle is to get rich and stop working. Paul's intention is to encourage them to be holly and righteou as he did.