Anyone who’s been writing for any length of time knows the feeling — that goose bump-filled rush of epiphany as you realize the idea you just had is just out of this world. “No way has anyone else thought of this!” you say to yourself. You rush to the computer to find out more, only to discover the topic has already been discussed at length, in a depressingly different number of ways.
Why creating original content is so elusive.
Everything that could have been said has already been spoken in hundreds or even thousands of different iterations, so why should anyone listen to you? After all, chances are everyone has already heard it before, right?
There’s a lot of advice on writing original content, ranging from the generic “be helpful, solve a problem” to the well-known “good artists copy, great artists steal.” But such instruction often inspires half-baked, repetitive content, and even worse, misses the point entirely.
Originality can only become a problem if we are trying to be someone we are not. Fortunately, there’s a simple way around this — tell your story instead.
Think back to your company’s beginnings.
Most entrepreneurs have a really good reason behind why they started a company. A deep-seated sense of purpose drives them. They are either confronted with a problem that has no immediate or effective solution or are simply unable to accept the status quo and want change.
The majority will also have a past checkered with years of trials, disappointments, drama and passion — with small measures of success here and there that ultimately adds up to something substantial.
Stories such as these are intensely exciting and relatable — which is also why they make such great movies. Take for instance, the tale of how Apple got its name. Some believed the name was given in honor of Apple Records, The Beetle’s music label, while others thought it represented the forbidden apple of knowledge bitten by Eve. But Steve Job’s biography states he named the company Apple after…