The Trap of Trying to be Completely Original

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing. –Salvador Dali

For the creative, there is always a desire to create something original. But if by “original,” we mean something that has absolutely no connection with anything that’s gone before it, we’re going to be disappointed. Because unlike God, we humans don’t create something out of nothing. But at the same time, we’re incredibly good at taking things we’ve been exposed to, and building upon them—combining or changing them in unique and creative ways.

Trying to be completely original is one way to get sidelined in the work of creating. If we’re afraid of creating things that have been shaped in part by other things before them, nothing will ever get produced. But even though our work may not be utterly original in that sense, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to create.

Because although no one creates something that is completely original, we can still integrate what we’ve seen and learned, creating things that are marked with our individual fingerprints. Yes, they may have been influenced by others, but that doesn’t negate the fact that we’ve combined those influences in a unique way.  And it’s this ability to combine influences—to integrate them—that being creative is all about.