The One Mindset Shift That Will Get You to Write More Original Content
Two simple stories that will get you up and writing more
A banana made international headlines last week.
Well, it wasn't just any banana. A banana worth $120,000, duct taped to a white wall at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea. An installment of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's modern art exhibition.
The art itself didn't make headlines. It was its sabotage that shook the world.
A kid grabbed the iconic fruit from the wall and started munching on it like he missed breakfast. When asked why he did it, he answered honestly, "Because I was hungry."
You could have done that, but you didn’t.
A friend shared that story in my Instagram DM's and left the comment, "A banana? I could've done that."
I didn't know if he was talking about the art or the kid eating it, but it didn't matter. I couldn't help but laugh. Everyone reacts the same when they hear stories about a $120,000 banana.
“I could’ve done that!"
Of course, the only flaw in that logic is — You didn't do it.
The great irony with anything creative is that most people won't start if they believe it's been done before. So many people have blogged about Disneyland, we say to ourselves. Why does the world need another Disney adult? Then we see a video going viral of someone's experience at Splash Mountain and say, "I could've done that."
Again, but you didn't.
The one mindset you need if you want to write more content.
I used to overanalyze my writing and stress over its originality.
It didn't click for me until I read William Zinsser’s On Writing Well (side note, if you read any book about writing, read this one). In the book, he talks about his students who refused to write about their travel experiences because they deemed it "unoriginal."
"Never be afraid to write about a place that you think has had every last word written about it," he says. "It's not your place until you write about it."
He means that everyone and their mother have written blogs, recorded podcasts, and Youtube videos about Disneyland. But this is the first time anyone has heard your perspective. What did you do? How did you experience it? Why did you travel to this place? What did you learn?
If you have the skill and the courage to convey those answers, that's your $120,000 banana.
Everything is copy. Only, it’s really not.
My girlfriend Dani recently showed me a YouTube travel vlog she's obsessed with called Kara and Nate.
We watched a video about their recent trip to Japan. I kept thinking about their courage to produce something like this — An average couple competing with all the books, blogs, YouTube videos, and documentaries about Japan. Not to mention Anthony Bourdain, who visited Japan at least six times.
The topic has been beaten to hell!
Only it really hasn't.
The show follows a young couple who saved their money, quit their jobs, and now make travel vlogs that teach people how to travel on a budget and visit off-the-beaten-path places.
In the episode, they choose to visit Japan. Of the millions of places they could have visited in Japan, they chose the urban/industrialized city of Sapporo. There are thousands of cool things they couldn’t have done in Sapporo. You know what they did? They ate ramen at the same restaurant two nights in a row. Who the fuck does that?
It dawned on me while watching them munch on some local ramen that just as there are billions of variations to play a game of chess, there are billions of ways to tell a story.
Kara and Nate were a blue ocean in what I thought was a saturated market.
In fact, they were more relatable than Anthony Bourdain because my girlfriend and I could learn from their travel style and how to get around on a limited budget.
The point is. Countless people have written about Japan, just like countless people have tried to incorporate fruit into their art. It’s all been beaten to hell. But their story was never going to be the same as the others. It couldn’t if they tried.
It’s not your place until you write about it.