Copycats and cheap imitators are everywhere online. Just because the Internet has made it easy to stalk your 'competition' doesn't mean you should dive head-first into implementing their strategies. Here are ten reasons to stop imitating and start creating!
1. It is not honoring of YOU, your difference and your brilliance. If you were truly being you, what would you create? If your life or business isn't inspiring enough for you, change it!! Is it really enough for you to create your business as a second-rate copy of someone else's? Infinite choices open up when you be you!
2. It is the least creative form of competition as it creates less for everyone. What if you could out-create, co-create or collaborate instead? Baking a bigger pie of possibilities is so much more generative than fighting for your share of a tiny pie! Competition is a degenerative energy that destroys your future. Is that truly what you desire? If not, ask 'What contribution could I be and receive here?' Open your mind and explore. Innovation isn't predictable.
3. You are negating your awareness and your knowing in favor of someone else's. Thinking that you don't know what can work for you cuts off your awareness of possibilities and ensures you are creating from a set of conclusions that may or may not be relevant to your business.
What if your competition don't have it 'right' either? Is your industry in danger of falling into a situation where the blind are leading the blind?
Learning to trust YOUR ideas will move you forward further - and faster! It will also allow your clients to trust you more. Do you trust colleagues or suppliers who are always copying other people's ideas?
4. Ask yourself - is this a small choice or a big choice? Small choices limit your future. Big choices expand it. Will copying someone else's idea truly expand your choices? Or is that the story you tell yourself to make it okay? Are people already talking about how you copy others? What future are you truly creating? What future could you create if you moved towards constant creation and innovation?
5. Copying others limits the inspiration you can receive. When you copy someone's ideas, you are not asking the questions that are relevant to your future and your possibilities. You are closing doors to the things that ONLY you can create. Ask the universe to show you... 'What else could I choose that I haven't yet chosen?'
You might be surprised, and your business might become an enjoyable adventure instead of a constant struggle to stand out.
6. Imitation automatically makes YOU less than the other person and less than what you are. Is that what you came to this planet to create? Are you capable of much more? What would be possible if you embraced your greatness rather than looking to other people first? Being different is about being willing to be a leader. When you give up trying to fit in to the status quo, people will desire to follow you.
7. Don't steal just because you love the idea. It may not be relevant to your business. Be inspired by how you can quantum leap ideas from other industries in ways that are relevant to your audience. If you really must copy something, don't institute the exact idea. Create something brilliant that is 3 − 5 steps beyond the original idea! Playing leapfrog is way more fun!
8. Create what is nurturing and joyful for you. Have you noticed that trying to institute someone else's ideas often feels like a struggle? Or it becomes stressful? Or it doesn't work with ease? That's because it's not designed for you!! Stop tormenting and torturing yourself. Your joy is in another space. Ask 'What is the world truly asking of me?' Go there!
9. Imitation is a form of flattery that damages your reputation. Imitating publicly devalues your unique presence in the world. You might see it as easy money or a fast way to move forward. Others see it as you defining your difference as 'not enough'. And that stops all possibilities of premium pricing. Would it be more empowering and engaging to create beyond what already exists?
10. Still tempted by the cheap thrills of imitation? If you find yourself having idea envy, play with all of your ideas, ask them to have idea babies and ask them to grow up fast! This creates a generative energy where you are inviting the world to enjoy the difference you are. Does that feel a whole lot lighter and more expansive than sneakily (or brazenly) imitating others?
Unleashing YOU on the world can change the world. BE the difference that creates greater possibilities, not the diminisher that eliminates them.