Here’s Why You Should Steal
When I first started learning to play guitar, I didn’t have much to create.I started playing the music that I had heard again and again, only to realize what it was that I liked about it.I took pieces, movements, and hand shapes that I liked and rearranged them the way I liked.I took chords, techniques, and styles from the greats.
I stole just about everything I could.
What happened next was unexpected, though; I started to create my own sound.It wasn’t until I’d absorbed all this that I found my creative voice.Interestingly, the same thing happened with my writing, marketing, and the way I manage my projects.
I stole all the good stuff, and now I’ve made it my own.
Now, I’m not saying you should plagiarize or pretend you invented something, that’s weak and immoral.I’m just saying you need to find out what it is that resonates with you and internalize it.
This is a fast way to move toward the person you wish to be.
Techniques, styles, habits—whatever.They’re out there, and they’re yours for the taking.The most important part, though, is what you do with them.
2 Minute Action:
What’s a characteristic or achievement you admire in someone else?What’s a technique, strategy, or behavior someone has done recently that you think is smart?Try it for yourself today. I bet it takes you 2 minutes or less to try it on for size.
Tell Me You Don't Already Know The Answer To This . . .
We almost always know the answer already. The trouble is that we're looking for someone to give us permission.We don't need a new fancy diet. We know what's good for us and what's garbage. Eat less, exercise more.We don't need a fancy new software app. We know what work we're avoiding. Do the scary stuff first, push everything else aside.We don't need a professional life-coach. We know what's right in our hearts. Care more, complain less, solve problems that help people.
But there are consequences.
The trouble is that caring more means we get hurt by careless people.Complaining less means doing the emotional work of reframing frustration as gratitude.Solving problems that help people means we have to deliberately look inside ourselves--which is can be terrifying.
So, it's going to hurt either way.
It's up to you whether you want to feel the hurt of being yourself or the hurt of never being you.It's up to you if you want to endure the temporary pain of vulnerability or the sustained suffering of self-denial.The thing we often know and often forget is that we're going to habituate to whichever pain we choose.To which pain would you rather be immune?
2 Minute ACTION:
- What work are you avoiding right now?
- What conversation are you putting off?
- What habit are you waiting to start?
Reply/Comment and let's get moving.