Stealing without stopping

The idea that we should steal from those who inspire us isn’t a new one. (Arguably the most famous modern association to the notion is from author Austin Kleon’s book Steal like an Artist.)

What some folks do, however, is they steal … then stop. They believe that WHAT the other person did contributed to their success, and since the WHAT is easy to see, it’s easy to steal.

Of course, they’re forgetting HOW they did it. And WHY they did it. And arguably the most unique and differentiating thing of all — and the biggest variable making each situation unlike the rest — WHO did it.

The problem isn’t that people steal from those they admire (at least under this interpretation, which essentially means “allow the work to be influenced by…”)

No, the issue isn’t the stealing. The issue is the stopping. The issue is lazy stealing — a form of grafting someone else’s WHAT into your work.

The hard work (or maybe call it the real work) is all the other things. It’s not the tactic or approach you take. That’s the what. That’s stealable. It’s the how (tough but not impossible to steal), the why (tougher to steal), and the who (impossible to steal). Those things require, in a word, YOU.

So sure, steal away. Become inspired and copy what inspires you. But don’t stop there. Maintain the intent to add what makes your situation unique into the work: how you’ll approach the work, why you do the work at all, and most crucially of all, who you are. That last one is the one thing that’s both 100% defensible and 100% unique to you.

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My book, Break the Wheel, is about decision-making within your unique context. It’s about escaping the endless onslaught of average work and absolutist “best practices” to better think for yourself. To explore the idea from this post further—with stories and science expanding across 200 pages or so—consider purchasing a book.