Wednesday 17 April 2013

O is for Originality

Being original is something I aim for, but struggle to achieve, particularly online.

It doesn't matter whether I'm making a video to go on YouTube, writing a bloglet, or even just sending a tweet; I worry that somebody's already done it, probably in a far better/funnier/more succinct or clever way than I ever could. 

Having this attitude is both a blessing and a curse. Let's take this bloglet as an example.

Because I'm concerned that someone else may also choose this topic, I will have re-read, edited and tweaked this bloglet countless times before deciding it was as good as it could possibly be. There will be no, or hardly any, spelling/grammatical mistakes. 

But ...

Because I'm concerned that someone else may also choose this topic, it will have taken me a long time to decide that I definitely want to write about it. I will have deleted the whole thing and started again at least once, and if it weren't for the fact that the A to Z requires me to post a bloglet today, I may have decided that this one wasn't good enough, and it may never have been published.

I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who struggles with originality (I can't even come up with an original problem of my own). For any of you who also put added pressure on yourself to be original when blogging, vlogging, writing or tweeting, this video may be of use. In it, wheezywaiter (Craig) argues that nothing is original and that, once you accept this, you can be far more productive.




Question: Do you struggle with trying to be original? 



4 comments:

  1. Ok, brilliant video and very helpful too:-)

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  2. It's true, originality is very rarely found these days, but sometimes the most brilliant ideas are lost due to fear of it not being an original.

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  3. I think we all try. I was just talking to someone the other day about how hard it must be to be a songwriter these days, of fear that every song is starting to sound the same.

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