Being Original Is Nearly Impossible
5 June 2009 in Million Dollar Ideas, MiscellaneousI keep an electronic document of my ideas. Instead of maintaining a diary of my feelings or a journal of major events in my life, I like to record ideas. This document I keep is several pages long, single-spaced, and fairly concise. I have well over a hundred creative inventions and business ventures written down, many of which are “million dollar ideas” that I think could become very successful with the right approach. Lots of them are also ridiculous, with no scientific basis and no chance of ever seeing the light of day, but they are funny so I write them down. I will be sharing some ideas here because it’s fun and I am unable to work on them all. Maybe somebody will read about an idea, make something of it or have another idea sparked by it, become rich and famous, then take me to lunch to say thanks.
Today, though, I would like to talk about how so many of our original ideas have already been conceived and produced. Take this website, for example. When I made the decision to drop everything, travel and write about it, I thought that surely this was a novel concept. I thought about some different themes I could try, like climbing to the tallest point in every country or sharing crazy things I see, maybe doing something unique in every country, or simply writing about Westernized society and the struggle to be individuals when we have been so conditioned to a certain way of life.
Well, guess what? When I researched ideas for this website and my travels, I found that A LOT of others were already doing what I wanted to do!
Here’s a short list:
Christine Gilbert quit her job as a Fortune 500 manager to travel…Hmmm…her story seems closest to mine, yet I just found her website yesterday!
Tim Ferriss never really had a job, but he’s a genius and quickly masters everything he tries. I like learning new things and am fairly intelligent, but don’t have that kind of innate brilliance to master new skillsets in a matter of weeks. In any case, part of what I want to do with Ends of Earth is learn new things around the world and share them. Many of my “original” ideas for themes were already being done by him!
Matt Harding quit his job as a video game programmer to travel. Accidentally, he did a silly little “dance” everywhere he went, made a short video of all the dance clips, then got sponsored by a gum company when the videos went viral. He recently wrote a book about his experiences doing the dance all over the world. I couldn’t believe his luck when I first read about him, because he was doing only a small part of what I had planned, yet was accidentally very successful. If anyone has an idea for a viral video I could do, let me know!
Tynan has always lived life “outside the box” and does funny, crazy things regularly. He actually bought and lived in an RV, something I mentioned in my last article. He writes occasionally on travel gear and technology. He does things to the extreme and lives by his own code. Once again, he is a person with whom I share so much in common and he was already writing about and doing these things long before my plan to leave my profession.
With technology so advanced and improving so rapidly, and the entire world becoming connected, having a truly original idea is nearly impossible. Even the best idea is usually based on another invention, building on the shoulders of others. Science history is full of originator disputes, so why should modern pop culture ideas be any different.
Have you ever had a brilliant idea that you later found out was already taken? Did you feel like you just barely missed your shot at the American dream? What was/is your idea? Please share!
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I think you should buy an amphibious aircraft and travel the world by your own accord. You could earn some money on the way flying people to small tropical islands … Uh, and you should definantly wear a tropical print shirt while doing it. Or you could become (in)famous for landing your plane on rivers or lakes in major cities around the world.
And when you land in one of the lakes here in the middle of Copenhagen I’ll film you (and your possible arrest)
Lise, you are brilliant! If only it were affordable, I would already be on my way. I would rather you be my copilot, and we could find someone else to film. You could watch the roads as we fly, to make sure there aren’t any police around.
I picked an all-terrain aircraft months ago for this project. I’ll withhold the details…for now.
If I can chime in… I think you should just make whatever kind of website you want, and worry about other folks later. It’s not about the idea, it’s the execution. In fact, beyond your list there are at least 25 other popular “quit your job travel the world blogs” and if I let that stop me, I’d never had made it to your list! The fact is, your take on the world is going to be different than mine, and even if you tried, you couldn’t completely hide your unique voice. There are no new ideas but you will bring something unique to the project. Good luck!
[...] memories. This technique is one I’ve been toying with for a while. It’s by no means original. We’ve all done this before, at least by accident, but I don’t know that anyone has [...]