Bad artists copy. Great artists steal. ~Pablo Picasso
“There’s nothing new under the sun,” is a saying I’m sure you’re familiar with. Yet how is it that we’re dazzled daily by the exciting and unique perspectives of emerging new voices?
The truth is, outside of cutting-edge theoretical science, there is nothing new. And even then, one might argue that scientists are merely discovering relationships amongst things already known.
And that’s the key to stealing great content ideas—discovering a relationship between your subject matter expertise and things already known. Don’t worry… it’s not really stealing, but the instant improvement in your content is almost like cheating.
Understand first that a unique perspective simply means you see a connection that others do not. So, you can still cite your sources and yet speak in a truly new voice, because the connection makes all the difference.
Henry Makes Some Money
It’s not plagiarism - I’m recycling words, as any good environmentally conscious writer would do. ~Uniek Swain
Henry is a businessman who takes a tour of a meat-packing plant in Chicago, and is keenly interested in the established practice of dividing up the entire process into small specialized tasks. While this is common in the meat-packing field, no one does this in Henry’s industry. Henry Ford goes on to make a lot of money.
A guy named Gutenberg alters the course of human history by looking intently at a coin maker’s stamp and the way wine makers squeeze juice from grapes. His observations result in the printing press, and the Chinese, who at the time are the world technology leaders, are only now starting to catch up after that massive boost the Western world received.
Seth updated the 60-year-old unique selling proposition and the age-old practice of referral marketing by calling it a “purple cow” (a term borrowed from a poem) because he realized that in an inter-networked world, other people could sell remarkable stuff better than the seller could. And yet the fundamentals of uniqueness remain the same.
Your “New” Idea Most Likely Isn’t
All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s often a shock to the thinking person when they find that their revolutionary new idea is not new at all. Most likely, someone in a robe thought of it thousands of years ago.
No worries, it just means you’re on the path to greatness. For a shortcut, read the ideas of smart people throughout history—from Socrates and Jesus to Anne Frank and Dorothy Parker.
You’ll never run out of inspiration.
Goofing Off to be Great
Loafing is the most productive part of a writer’s life. ~James Norman Hall
You don’t need to hear it from me that you must read everything relevant to your niche to be an expert. Of course you do.
But will that make you great? Will it make you someone that people listen to and respect?
Not necessarily, and most likely no.
What makes you great is what you learn outside of your area of expertise, because that’s where the connections are made. Good luck comes to those who work hard, and part of working hard is paying attention when you’re not working.
I’ve found inspiration in novels, magazines, good television, bad television, walks in the park, nights at the bar, the laughter in my children’s eyes and even something my mother-in-law once said.
Always look in the unlikely places.
A Unique Perspective Does Not Fear Attribution
It is the little writer rather than the great writer who seems never to quote, and the reason is that he is never really doing anything else. ~Havelock Ellis
I ran across that Henry Ford story in Roy William’s book, The Wizard of Ads
The point is that this article is simply a mishmash of things I’ve read, and things I’ve lived, and things I’ve thought. But I’m standing on the shoulders of giants every step of the way.
Umm… Sir Isaac Newton said that “shoulders of giants” thing long before me, and he ripped off borrowed it from some other guy who no one remembers. 
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Brian;
This has been one of my secrets to success.
I always look at what works well in other industries and try and figure out how I could apply it to my own.
The key to all of this: You MUST be looking outside your domain for inspiration.
Mike
Great post Brian. So who wrote it before you?
Experiencing outside your industry and understanding how those outside experiences apply to yours is the way to innovate.
I think Van Gogh always saw himself as a link in a chain and all his work came out of what went before and would inspire what came after.
Blues musicians are another link in the chain example. The idea is to copy a riff from someone you admire and add a piece of yourself to it thereby creating something both new and borrowed and continuing the evolution of the music itself.
Steven, did you read the last section?
Geniuses steal. Hacks borrow. (I can’t remember who stole that quote from.)
Brian, you just reminded me that most of the great successes do not come from “first movers”. It is the synthesizing of ideas that resulted in the evolution of philosophy, technology, science and perhaps everything we see now.
Here is an interesting story of Chinese village painters, who are “stealing” from the Masters.
http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/china/2007/07/the-business-of.html
But, I think the only new thing that they are contributing is low price.
Great article, as always.
you’re stealing one of your old quotes aren’t you? it’s one of my favourites by picasso. i use it often.
Most ideas are where someone has added their own view to it.
There are new ideas, for example before we knew about the atom nobody had written about it.
I understand the Picasso quote, “Bad artists copy. Great artists steal.” as:
Bad artists copy words. Great artists steal ideas.
Attribution amnesia and copyright infringement are hallmarks of the “bad artist”. A great artist will lift ideas from others’ work like silly putty from newsprint.
Brian, this is a very inspiring post for me. I’ve been struggling with this concept for a while now, as the concept of “stealing” was holding me back to write on several occasions. That’s one of the drawback of naming my blog “How to be an original” I guess.
I especially like the observation about having revolutionary ideas that have been thought of before by men in robes. Seeing that as a step on the road to greatness is very insightful, and very helpful. Thanks for that!
Why don’t they teach us this in school? we learn in school that you lose with this kind of behavior, the truth is the exact opposite!
Wherever I go, whatever I read, I have a little program running in my brain that wonders if this could be related to coping with physical pain, my blog topic.
While talking with the sushi makers at the Japanese sushi bar, they talked about cramps and pain in their hands and back… hmmm… a post.
While reading the throw-away magazine on American Airlines, I came across a story about a restaurant that tracks your satisfaction at multiple points during your dining experience… hmmm, how would this work in the doctor’s office? … a post.
etc.
thanks for the interesting post.
I can’t believe you just wrote this post today, because I was thinking through very similar things on my blog. Would you do me a favor and take a look at today’s post and comment on it.
I have been thinking where creativity and good ideas come from, and too often we try to create something out of “nothing”. But creativity is about borrowing other ideas and making NEW ASSOCIATIONS.
great stuff.
bill
Bill, excellent post. Seems you and I were in sync on this topic with no time to steal from one another.
Great post Brian,
This goes back to the age old adage of “building a better mouse trap!”
Or, as Mister Rogers used to say, “You learn something old every day.”
It’s the unique way you put it to use that makes others want to learn from your take on it.
I’ve seen that innovation doesn’t generally happen in big leaps. Instead, people figure out ways to evolve things better; they apply things that have worked before but in a new application. It’s this sort of cross-pollination that’s at the key to success.
copying is stealing.
On a similar vain I’d reccomend online copywriters buying a few papers everyday, Skim read them for anything that can all be related to your topic you’d be surprised how much you can find that just needs tying into your specialism.
The key, as I’m sure you all know, is to filter the information in new ways — through your senses, how you think and see the world. In fact, that is a must in adding value. Innovation is also looking at the same thing with new eyes.
A good lesson in how to grab attention by headline, Brian
I like the part you said about your “mother-in-law” the best — finding answers in unusual places. Priceless!
For people who are concerned about plagiarism, an idea is one thing while a written piece of work is another one. Hopefully, if other sources are used, the proper citations are included.
Absolutely spot on post!
Searching for 100% original ideas, you’ll be searching forever.
Brian I did read the last section and was just having a little fun.
I’m going to read this article every time I try talk myself out of writing something that is important to me. My greatest struggle right now is in overcoming the fact that what I want to write about has been written about before, countless times, and in countless ways. I’m always ask myself, “What could I possibly do that is different, and who would really care?” Your statment that one’s special “connection” to the subject matter makes all the difference, and is difference enough, is encouraging to me.
Thank you!
Marna Reinhardt
Wonderful post and those quotes are superb.
Here’s another:
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug” ~ Mark Twain
The right word or words can make or break an ad - and the chances that those words (or the idea those words reflect) haven’t been used before are minuscule.
If we learn from copy that has gone before - what works and what doesn’t - we’ll all be better at what we do.
After all, we aren’t called Copy Writers for nuthin’
-Barry
(TheScrivener)
Hey Barry, check out the Mark Twain Guide to Better Blogging.
This is why the best writers will always be curious thinkers with a broad exposure to ideas and NOT products of a market-based curriculum designed to churn out workers. Fantastic post, Brian.
Well… What about space ketchup? Ever thought about writing about that?
>>> “There’s nothing new under the sun,” is a saying I’m sure you’re familiar with.
Translation: I’ve heard that somewhere, I don’t have a clue where it’s from.
Hint: Ecclesiastes 1:9, Old Testament of The Bible.
Nice reference, but always take care with your presumptions (or at least with the way you reveal them).
I always liked the lines from an old Tom Lehrer song (sung with a bad Russian accent):
“Plagiarize!
Let no-one else’s work evade your eyes.
Remember why the good lord made your eyes
and plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please, Research!”
On a more serious note, one thing that often discourages me as a writer is the tendency, when I’ve had a good idea, to immediately find that idea expressed by someone else.
Excellent tip. Thanks a bunch.
I think I’m doing this with my Integrated Marketing Comm classes. Brand = blog and product = content. I’d probably be bored to tears without the help of a good metaphor!
And thanks god it is like that, if not we would be ‘inventing’ the wheel this days.
I find that a lot of people use the same content, the same news, the same videos, things like that. You can simply look around at what other bloggers are doing and then offer your own commentary on whatever content they’ve posted up.
stuart
Stuart, that’s exactly what you *should not* be doing. That’s why so many bloggers are unremarkable.
Look instead to art, science, gardening or pop culture for inspiration, and thereby develop a unique perspective instead of a “me too and here’s my opinion that no one cares about” blog. There are enough of those.
Thank you for the great content. It really helped get my creative mind going.
Hi Brian, thanks for all this valuable information.
I have a question for you about researching a topic:
Where can I go to find information about different subjects? If I look information on it on the web I always run into OTHER articles that tell a lot of what I need to know but I don’t want to steal their work.
What should I do??
Thanks.
Patrick
PS. My email is patrick.post.534@gmail.com