Let’s get real: everyone wants to be special. To have thoughts so fresh they’d make Shakespeare jealous. I was no different.
At 17, I’d sit hunched over my old broken laptop, rewinding Jordan Peterson clips until 3 AM. His words felt like lightning in a bottle—clear, confident, alive. Meanwhile, my own ideas? They came out like a toddler’s finger painting. All enthusiasm, zero coherence. I’d start strong—“The human condition is basically…”—then freeze. Was I broken? Or just another kid raised on Wikipedia summaries and multiple-choice bubbles?
School didn’t help. Remember those “put it in your own words” essays? Yeah. I’d swap “utilize” for “use” and call it a day. Teachers wanted parrots, not thinkers. By graduation, my brain was a cluttered attic of half-remembered quotes and other people’s hot takes.
Then came the wake-up call.
The Day I Realized I Was a Mental Copycat
Picture this: I’m 22, arguing with my cousin about politics. Mid-rant, she stops me cold: “You’re just regurgitating that podcast guy.” Ouch. But she was right. My “opinions” were Frankensteined from Twitter threads and YouTube rants. I hadn’t thought—I’d absorbed. Like a sponge. A really loud sponge.
That’s when it hit me: Originality isn’t about being first. It’s about being you. Even if “you” is a sleep-deprived millennial who thinks best while pacing the kitchen.
Why Your Brain Hates Original Thinking (And How to Trick It)
Turns out, our minds are survivalists. Agree with the tribe = stay safe. Disagree = risk exile.
My Midwest upbringing practically tattooed “GO TO COLLEGE” on my forehead
My ex’s family saw vegetarians as communist spies (true story)
Ever tried questioning childhood beliefs? It’s like poking a hornet’s nest with a chopstick
But here’s the hack: Become a professional doubter. Not the edgy Reddit kind—the kind who doubts their own doubts.
Last year, I tried an experiment: For a month, I’d argue against every opinion I held.
Pro-meat? Went vegan for a week (turns out tempeh’s not Satan’s tofu)
Anti-Harry Styles? Listened to Fine Line on loop (…okay, “Watermelon Sugar” slaps)
Believed in “hustle culture”? Took a nap instead. Glorious.
5 Ugly Truths About “Original” Thinking (From a Recovering People-Pleaser)
Your Hot Take is Probably Lukewarm
My viral tweet about productivity? Stolen from a 1997 Zig Ziglar tape. But I framed it through my disastrous attempt at bullet journaling (RIP, Moleskine). Moral: Wrap old ideas in your personal chaos.
Read Weird Sh*t
Swap Atomic Habits for:
A 1983 punk zine about anarchist baking
Your grandma’s handwritten pie recipes
That bizarre Substack about sentient algae
Gold isn’t found in bestseller lists. It’s in the mental dumpster diving.
Become an Idea DJ
Last month’s breakthrough? Merging Stoicism with Tinder profiles. (“Swipe Right Like Marcus Aurelius” — patent pending). The magic happens when business bros meet Buddhist monks in your Google Docs.
Embrace Training Wheels
I used to think frameworks killed creativity. Then I tried writing using the “Pizza Method”:
Crust = Core message
Toppings = Examples
Cheese = Emotional glue
(Yes, I was hungry. But it worked.)
Fail Spectacularly
My first livestream featured:
A shaky iPhone camera
Me quoting “Aristotle” (it was actually Plato)
A cat interrupting to barf off-camera
17 people watched. 3 commented. But that disaster taught me more than any “How to Go Viral” guide.
The Part Where I Get Real
After five years of writing online, here’s my dirty secret: Most “original” ideas are remixes. The magic isn’t in what you say—it’s in the scars you show while saying it.
That time you bombed a job interview? The weird hobby your friends mock? That’s your gold.
So next time you’re staring at a blank page, remember: Your voice isn’t in some untouched mental vault. It’s hiding in the junk drawer of your life experiences—buried under old receipts, half-baked dreams, and that one weird sock.
Start digging.