No one and nothing is original.
Everything is a copy of everything.
Maybe not an exact copy, but at least something that was inspired or influenced by something or someone else.
Something that has already been said before.
Something that has already been created before.
Something that already existed before.
The iPhone is a copy.
Not an exact copy but the combination and improvement of many different things that have already been out there before.
Everything I write and say is a copy.
A copy of something that I’ve seen, experienced or read over the last couple of decades.
Everything you’ll ever see, read or listen to is inspired by something that person has experienced or somehow consumed in the past.
And this is great news.
Because it means that everybody can be original.
Just like everybody can be creative.
It’s just like a muscle that needs to be trained.
And the more often you train that muscle, the stronger it’ll get.
And the more ideas you’ll have.
And the more original your ideas will become.
By combining everything you’ve ever seen, heard, watched or experienced.
It’s a very simple equation…
B.S. in = B.S. out.
Or to put it another way…
Quality in = Quality out.
Which is even better news because we now all have access to high quality stuff.
Basically for free.
But the bad news is that it’s hard to find the good stuff.
And it’s even harder to focus on the good stuff instead of all of the bad stuff out there.
The stuff that screams “click me” with some of the most attention grabbing headlines possible.
The stuff with the most violence, the most pain, the most greed and the biggest panic out there.
It’s easy to let all the bad stuff into your system and miss all the good stuff out there.
But you have to ignore the bad stuff, the stuff that screams for attention, the stuff that’s basically useless and a waste of your time.
If you stop reading right here, please remember one thing. Or even better make it two things...
Focus on the good stuff and you’ll create good stuff yourself.
Focus on the bad stuff and you’ll create bad stuff yourself…
# COMBINING
Every piece of work of every artist, creative or creator that has ever been created is a combination of other works of other artists, creatives or creators who have lived before.
There’s nothing 100% original...
And realizing and really understanding this is the first step and probably the most important step to being original...
# FIND YOUR TRIBE
This is what I do...
I limit my consumption to maybe 3-4 people. And nothing else.
I try to block all the other stuff as much as I can.
I try to find people that have achieved or done something similar to what I want to do/achieve.
And then I limit my consumption to these people.
So in a sense it’s sort of my tribe. Even though they don’t know me and I don’t know them.
It’s just like they say…
You’re the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with.
Which in itself is pretty much useless.
Because the 5 people you’d want to surround yourself with are most likely not going to want to surround themselves with you… or me…
Because if they did, their average would drop dramatically….
Which is why the Internet is such a great place.
Because we can essentially build our virtual tribe of mentors.
We can surround ourselves with the 5 people we admire.
Without ever having to see them, meet them or personally know them…
# MORE MEANS MORE
99% of your ideas won’t be very good.
As a matter of fact, most of them will be pretty mediocre.
But some of them will be good.
Some of them will be original.
Some of them might have the potential to change the world.
But this is only a tiny fraction of all of the ideas you’ll ever come up with.
So let’s say you come up with 100 ideas in your entire life, then maybe one of them will be very good.
On the other hand, when you come up with 1000 ideas, then you’d probably come up with 10 or so very good ideas.
It’s simple math...
The more ideas you try to come up with, the more good ideas you’ll come up with.
And the more ideas you try to come up with, the better you’ll get at coming up with ideas.
Good ones and bad ones.
Most of my blog posts aren’t that great for example.
But some of them are. Maybe one out of 50.
So let's say on average someone who writes stuff online might need an entire year to write those 50 blog posts. So it would take someone like that an entire year to hit just one single home run.
On the other hand, when you write every single day, it might only take you 50 days for one home run. So you'd be able to write 7-8 great blog posts a year. Have 7-8 great ideas a year.
And not only this, but because you'd write, or create or sing or whatnot, every single day you'd also get faster and hopefully also better at it in a lot less time than most people would.
So essentially you might end up with even more home runs.
Long story short, the more often you do something, the better you’ll get at it.
And the faster you want to get good at something, the more often you have to do it...
It's as simple as that.
But not that easy...
# DO IT
If you never do it, you’ll never become better at it.
If you never try to come up with ideas, you’ll never get better at coming up with ideas.
Good or bad ones.
And if you never start working on those ideas, then nothing is ever going to happen.
Simply because the only way to figure out whether an idea is good or bad is to start working on it.
To put it out there for the whole world to see..
# PUT IT OUT THERE
So not only do you have to practice, but you’d have to practice in public.
That blog post you just wrote, put it out there.
That idea you just had, put it out there.
That song you just created, put it out there.
That t-shirt you just designed, put it out there.
That software you just coded, put it out there.
Whatever it is that you're creating, put it out there for the whole world to see.
For the whole world to judge.
As fast and as soon as possible.
Because that's the only way to figure out what works and what doesn't…
# PUBLISH YOUR BAD WORK
Because your bad work might turn out to be your good work.
And your good work might turn out to be your bad work.
Let the market decide.
And not the voice living inside your head...
# DOING WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING
If you do what everybody else is doing, then it’s very likely that you’re going to come up with the same stuff that everybody else is coming up with.
And if you come up with the same stuff that everybody else is coming up with, then you’ll be competing with everybody else who’s competing with everybody else.
And competing with 7 billion other people is a competition you’re most likely going to lose. Every single time...
So don’t focus on becoming like everybody else and instead try to focus on becoming like no one else...
