When you challenge the way you think about things, you force yourself to think original thoughts. Original thoughts are necessary for original action. Because how you think about things is directly linked to how you do things. For example, when you use an old project to inform the creation of a new project, what you’re actually doing is recreating the previous project. You can change the content all you want, but the ‘new’ project is by nature a reproduction of something you’ve already done. And so this ‘new’ work is not ‘new’ at all. Because reproduction is—by definition—not original. Every new project needs a new approach. Because original thought=original action. This is also known as creativity. Contrary to popular belief, creativity is not the exclusive talent of a chosen few but innate in all of us. The inner workings of a ‘creative’ brain are no different than your own. The only difference is that ‘creatives’ have learned to challenge and overcome their own barriers to original thought and in doing so liberated themselves to pursue original action. Is this too conceptual for a blog?! OK, here are some specifics:
- Imagine your website copy with no exclamation marks.
- Write a listing description without any adjectives or adverbs.
- Get a wedding photographer instead of a real estate photographer.
When you challenge the way you do things (and the way things have always been done), you’ll find that you impose on yourself a host of unnecessary standards that inherently restrict your ability to think original thoughts and do original things. So think original. And you’ll be original.
