Who was the first rock musician?

Elvis Presley?

Chuck Berry?

What if I told you that the first classic guitar solos were played by a black woman called Rosetta Tharpe?

This woman was the main influence on important artists like Bob Dylan and Little Richard, who later changed the direction of music forever.

Impressed? Not impressed? Doesn’t matter, because the point here is that no one has ever been 100% original in the whole history of humanity.

The problem with being original

As content creators, there are few problems with trying to be original.

First off: You can’t be original on your own.

There’s no way for you to create unique, valuable content just from your head. It’s impossible, don’t ever try it!

You see, when you spend your focus on trying to come up with original ideas, two things happen:

1. You start to fall into a perfectionism fallacy, suffer from impostor syndrome, and feed your procrastination habit.

2. You end up coming up with ideas that already exist, anyways.

We all have faced that frustrating experience of brainstorming tons of ideas, just for them to suck; leaving you exhausted.

That’s what happens when you refuse to learn from others’ work; when you care more about being original than being useful. When others’ opinions about your work matter more to you than your own work.

It’s inevitable. Trying to be original puts you in a position of failure, it’s not reliable, and limits your potential.

So… what can you do to improve your content ideation process?

Copy, mix, and interpret

Ok, so you have a content calendar to fill and a content-hungry audience — what are you supposed to do?

Simple: copy.

Now, I’m not advocating for plagiarism, as plagiarism is to take other’s work like yours — that’s unethical.

What’s not unethical, is to take a diverse variety of influences/sources to provide the best value to your audience (you see it all the time!).

You see...

If you copy from one author, you’ll bring nothing new.

If you copy from five authors from the same industry, your work will be industry-standardized.

But if you copy from a wide range of industries AND diversify your intellectual garden, then you’ll end up with content that everybody will see as ‘original’.

Got it? Everything you’ve thought to be ‘original’ is, in reality, a weird mix of the work of others.

And I’m not the first person to say this; I’m just an ‘idea distributor’.

If you watch David Perell's videos on this topic, you’ll see that his process is all about:

Collecting (taking other’s ideas) —> Connecting (mixing ideas) —> Creating (materializing ideas in a way that makes sense)

So in order to truly be authentic, provide unique value to your audience, give a fresh perspective to your industry, and make a difference…

You’ve gotta copy, mix, and interpret.

Because the added value of mixing different ideas is where innovation comes from. Aristotle had it right when he said:

“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

The framework to be authentic

So you want to be authentic? You only need to change some of your habits:

• See stories where everyone else sees trivialities

• Consume obscure content

• Avoid the mainstream media

• Get driven by your curiosity

• Take notes often

• Meditate on your subjects

Find a way to passively fill your brain with different ideas. Whether you find them through your leisure activities, reading books, or even whilst you’re diving through the internet... The goal is to develop ‘the photographer’s eye’.

You know when a photographer catches something interesting in a random place and then takes a picture? It’s because they’ve developed an eye for good photos. And you should take the same approach with ‘ideas’.

In the end, authenticity will come as a result of your unique combination of influences, stories, and the ideas that you’ve interpreted in your own way.

Because when you see something authentic, you’re just looking at an obscure interpretation of things that were already known. 

Authenticity is something you build up over time, so in the meantime, enjoy copying others!

I’ll leave you with this tip from Miles Davis:

“First you imitate, then you innovate.”

🔍 Related: How can I write an original metaphor?

🔍 Related: The art of original thinking

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