In this episode, we discuss how to be creative using old ideas.
Full Transcript
Hi Everyone, welcome to the You’re Daily Cup of Joe Podcast, with your host Joe Bautista. In this podcast, my goal is to give you quick lessons that you can reflect on in your journal so you can grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and have a better career, better relationships, and better personal finances while you enjoy your morning cup of coffee.
I’m also the author of the book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to Get Better Every Day”. In this book, I wrote down over 30 tips to help you grow in those four cornerstones. I’m also the founder of Grow With Joe, where I combine self-development coaching and financial planning for Latino Professionals.
At the end of today’s podcast episode, I’m going to give you a prompt question to reflect on in your journal. The idea is to take one to five minutes to reflect on today’s lesson and write a minimum of one paragraph on how you can apply the lesson in your life. You can use an actual journal, a word document like on Google Drive, or your note-taking app like Evernote. The idea is that you’re actually thinking about how to process the information to help you improve your life.
In today’s episode, we are going to talk about how there are no new ideas under the sun. Last year, I read a really good book called Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative. One of the things that people get caught up on is trying to have a new idea or poo-poohing on an idea because it’s already been done before.
If you watch shows like Rick and Morty, Simpsons, South Park, or any other show, a lot of the ideas in them have already been done before but they add their own unique spin on them. One of my favorite episodes of Rick and Morty was the one with Snowball. In that episode, they combined the movie lawnmower man, inception, and the nightmare on elm street into one hilarious episode.
This is the same thing that we have to do with our own lives. Why spend tons of hours trying to figure something else when someone else has already done it. Don’t copy someone’s stuff completely, model after it. Learn the strategies and the why for how something is working. This will build up your mastery and help you create something that is new but familiar.
To create this podcast and my book, I took inspiration from Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene. My speaking and writing style has a lot to do with them. I love their analysis of historical events and it’s the same approach I want to use with explaining daily lessons. I also knew that doing an hour podcast could be too much for someone, so I made them into roughly five-minute lessons.
To start my financial planning firm, I just took financial planning and added self-development coaching into the routine. These ideas aren’t new to themselves but combined, they create a really unique business for me. And I took this idea from a guy named Roger Whitney after I heard him on a financial planning podcast. I don’t know what he does exactly but he gave me the inspiration to start my own financial planning firm that combines my two passions.
Roger’s business can only handle so much work and there are a ton of people who need help in life coaching and financial planning. I have the skills so I’m going to jump into the arena as well. I’m not going to let other people poo-pooh my idea by saying someone else has already done it. If your idea provides value to people, then you should be doing it. As long as you’re not copying word for word and creating something with your perspective, then you’re fine.
I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts because I’m trying to get inspiration to make new content. I know if I hear a podcast, only a small fraction of the world is hearing that message and I need to spread that message to someone else. I read Jeff Goins’s book a year ago, but I’m finally getting around to spreading his message 259 episodes later. People definitely need reminders on how to do better because we all forget.
So keep on creating your special work and don’t worry if you’re modeling your work after someone else. This is what’s needed to keep the world moving forward.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, there are no new ideas under the sun. Ideas are just communicated in a different matter or reorganized to fit today’s culture. So I would recommend that you learn more things in life so you can model your habits after people who have high standards. They might not have high standards in all different areas, but in this one area, they are top-notch. Keep learning and keep experimenting with your life because if you do enough experiments, then you can create a life that is truly special for yourself.
So in your journal, ask yourself, is there an idea that you’re contemplating about doing because you think it’s already been done before? What is giving you that hesitation? What are two or more ideas that you can implement in your life? Just experiment with your life and see what the outcome is. Some experiments need a long time to complete, so don’t give up if it doesn’t work out on the first try, but also don’t do something that doesn’t work forever. This requires wisdom and learning more will give you the wisdom to make a good decision.
Thanks for listening today! To get a free copy of my audiobook “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and you can download it right there.
I have a quiz on my website that grades your inner circle, so if you want to find out if your inner circle is an A, B, C, D, or F, you can take that quiz at growwithjoe.me/quiz
I’m also trying to do a feedback Friday episode, so if you have a question that you would like to have my answer on the air, just e-mail me at [email protected]
I’m also on Instagram at Grow With Joe and Facebook just look up Grow With Joe
If you’re on iTunes, don’t forget to give me a five-star rating if you liked this episode and to hit the subscribe button as well.
The greatest compliment you can give me is to share this episode with someone else.
Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
*Music outro
