You’re More Original Than You Think

By Bob Hughes - Jan 09 , 2012

Don’t think about jumping on a bandwagon.

Build your own.

If you’re considering following what’s been popular, don’t. That’s what publishers, television stations and movie studios do. So put away your first chapter of George Washington, Zombie Killer, and The Blood-Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne, Vampire Vixen, and think of something new.

It’s a new year, it’s a clean slate.

Copycat books, series and movies are never as good as the original (even if the original was only popular rather than good), and the follow-the-herd mentality leads to nothing as much as burnout.

You’re better than that.

You’ve probably had an idea kicking around for a while. You’ve probably discussed it with friends. You probably wonder how you can move forward with it.

You start by building a community of people with whom you engage and on whom you test your message. You build a platform.

You start writing. Writing what you actually think and believe and feel rather than what others have thought, believed and felt. If you want to comment on those things – what others have done – then you go to their websites and you do it there. Or you do it in your blog, which exists to engage. You don’t do it as your own original work. You’re not writing a sequel. You’re writing what you believe in – you’re being transparent.

Although many of us like the familiar, which is why we gravitate toward certain genres, such as thrillers, or how-to business books that promise to turn our entrepreneurial world around, nobody likes to read something he or she suspects having read before. (Although, frankly, the same business books seem to  appear at least 52 times a year.)

When you begin to create your work, through blogging or through interactions on social media, your growing audience will offer you not only encouragement but guidance. You’ll know when you’ve strayed from your message. You’ll get a sense when you’re lacking originality.

But first, do this: set pen to paper or get your fingers clicking on a keyboard.

Writing doesn’t just happen: you need to begin shaping your ideas. When they’re on the page, they’re that much more powerful, and you’ve begun to turn your thoughts into something beyond a private rumination. You’re about to engage. You’re about to become a thought leader.

Now start creating.