Category / creativity

by Nathan Coumbe

You are a unique work of art

Have you ever copied something? For instance, if you were learning to draw, you probably traced or copied some other piece of art in order to practice. Or maybe if you are a musician, you have emulated or copied something that one of your favorite artists played on a record or put up on YouTube.

Here’s something to think about – even if you copied it “perfectly,” it still wasn’t exactly the same. The note you played was probably infintismally sharper or flatter than the note the musician played; the line drawn probably had one or two atoms difference in the width or the length. So, in a certain respect, the art was original – it was yours.

You are quite similar to these “copies” – similar in many ways to those that have come before you or to the people working in your same career. Even if you try to be exactly the same or to strive for perfection, you will be different in some minuscule, perhaps microscopic, way.

At the very least, genetically you are one of a kind. I am paraphrasing Robert Greene here, in a book he wrote called Mastery, in which he says that each one of us has never happened before and will never happen again. We are original works of art, no matter how similar we may feel to others.

This is wonderful, because it means that each one of us has the potential to become something great, something different, to bring something to the world that has never before existed.

So go ahead and copy, emulate the people you admire, and learn from as many different sources as possible; each time you do it, whatever you do will be ever so slightly different. Eventually you will become who you were uniquely made to be, and you will give your gifts to the rest of us.

P.S.

Mastery is one of my all-time favorite books. It studies the great masters of many different crafts in varying periods in history. I highly recommend it for those of you interested in finding some inspiration on mastering your creativity. Find it here.

by Nathan Coumbe

Start something.

A number of weeks ago, my wife and I went out to play some pick-up soccer with folks in our community; it didn’t quite go as planned. After a flurry of text messages, it turned out that a flat soccer ball and someone’s annoying brother had wrecked our hopes of playing soccer that evening (yes, there is more than one obvious solution to this problem, but that’s not the point of this story).

We refused to let those issues stop us, and we had an idea (and luckily, a frisbee). We decided to teach the folks who were originally going to play soccer with us how to play Ultimate Frisbee. One hot, sweaty, muddy, grass-covered hour later, our group collapsed on the ground, exhausted and exhilarated. Not only did they all have a blast, they all wanted to know when the next game was happening. Since then, we’ve been playing 2-3 times a week, we have created a subscription calendar that anyone can get to see when the next game is, and our interest and attendance in the group has been steadily growing.

So why I am telling you this story? It’s really quite simple:

Start something.

Do something. Write something. Play something. Call someone and see if they are interested. Send them a text message. Put up a flyer.

Start something.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

– Walt Disney

We all have ideas that could start something – it may not be a new career or financially lucrative, but it could start a community league, or a charity, or a movement (and it could also be a new career AND financially lucrative).

Just so you know – it might not work.

WHO CARES?

If you never try to do it, then it definitely won’t work.

Do you play guitar? See if you can go teach someone else the basics. Do you draw or paint or sculpt? See if there is someone you know that might want to try a new hobby. Are you an awesome chess player? Find a friend that always wanted to learn or start a group that meets each week to play a tournament.

Start something. It might not work; it might be a bad idea. Do it anyway. And then do it again tomorrow. It might not work.

But what if it does?