Old guest post that I don’t think ever went live so reposting here.
The world has enough imitators. Copycats with no original thought. People who never listen to their own voice but become whatever the dominant and/or loudest voice is around them. The majority of people in society are followers. They rely on others to get them where they want to go. They rely on the leaders to change and chart their lives for them. They give up responsibility for where they end up and hand it over to whoever wants it. Hence they will always remain slaves.
While listening to others is needed it cannot be the only thing that you do. While looking at the stories of others can help us on our own, ultimately we must go out and blaze our own trail. Everyone is unique, everyone has to walk their own path. This is not something that can be outsourced or given over to another successfully. You must take responsibility for it. You must go after it. To get to where you want in life you will have to be an innovator not an imitator.
This is something that sounds good on paper but most of the time no practical advice is given. Great be an innovator…but how? This article is designed to tell you all that you need to know to get you started on the path to go from being a lame imitator to being a creative innovator.
Step #1 – Unplug From the Matrix
Our age has been called the information age and for good reason. Never before has so much knowledge been available to so many people. It is no secret that the internet has revolutionized the world and how we communicate. This has many benefits. Now we can hear from men all over the world how they have improved themselves and solved problems common to us all.
However there comes a time when you should stop constantly following others and start creating your own source. For example I read many blogs in the masculine self-improvement side of the internet yet when it comes time to write I turn them all off. Is it because they have bad information? No of course not it is because I need to be with my own thoughts so that what I bring to my readers isn’t someone else’s rehashed idea but something that comes from within. I turn of Twitter, e-mail, and any other distractions. I unplug from the outside world. It is just me and my computer’s word processor.
I would suggest taking a week every other month to unplug from all blogs and social media. Take a good book and delve deep into it, live your life and learn from that, get out into nature. But whatever you do unplug.
Step #2 – Get Experience
While experience is certainly not the end all be all and is often overhyped it does have its place. Learning from your own experiences is important. While learning from others certainly can shave years of the learning curve and help prevent you from many pitfalls eventually we all make a wrong step and when we do it offers us a chance to provide a unique solution to others.
It’s one thing to hear someone say something and another to experience. I’ve had friends describe to me being in car chases and having to pull guns on people (they are LEOs). While riveting it is another thing to experience it. Some things can only be learned through experience. For example at the gym I used to box at I heard others talk about getting hit in the jaw and how it was weird how they lost consciousness for a second. It was one thing to hear it but then getting cracked in the jaw real good one time and blanking out for a second I had a whole new perspective on what they were talking about. Draw on experiences from your own life and how you overcame them.
Step #3 – Expand Your Knowledge Base
You should be reading good books. There is certain value in blog articles, magazines, and even tweets occasionally but none of them compare to a good old fashioned book. When someone has written a book they have put time and effort into it. Books are a great away to ensure that you are getting quality information that is worth your time.
Are there bad books out there? Of course. But line up one hundred articles, one hundred social media posts, and one hundred books and which one do you think is going to give you the most value? I’ve learned just as much from books as I have from personal experience and looking back I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by getting good books in my hands at an earlier date.
You may be asking but how does this help with being an innovator? Reading something makes it your own and while an article or social media post generally doesn’t give you enough information to really build on a book does. So while you may getting the information of others it is enough that you can assimilate into your own mind and make your own.
Summary
People are looking for someone to follow. People are looking for leaders, for innovators. They are tired of seeing the same old rehashed crap. Being different and standing out gets people’s attention. When people find something unique about you they will come back to you. So follow the three steps above and you’ll be well on your way to rising from the level of a copycatting imitator to that of a creator, of an innovator.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
