It never fails that someone who is not original always shows their true colors at the end of the day. They typically like to hang around the truly creative and original, the self-taught and those born with the IT factor, all with the hopes of absorbing creative genius or “borrowing” ideas for their own personal agendas.
You can always tell when someone is not original when they show these signs:
Their Swag is Off
They don’t seem to be natural in their knowledge or experience about the idea or the issue at hand. For instance, that person who skipped entry-level and got a position that they didn’t necessarily have the experience or education for, so they fake their intelligence until they make it.
Or they co-opt the experience of someone else by telling their stories instead of their own. This is a trend in Hollywood, where you have mature middle-aged men intricately writing about the experiences of college-aged women, and so forth.
Bleak Minds
They’ve never in their life thought of doing that idea or having that vision until you came along. They will switch their whole careers because they see you doing something and they feel like if you can do it, they definitely can, too.
It’s like a backhanded compliment. They’re saying that you’re idea is dope on one hand, but on the other they don’t recognize the hard work and dedication you put into your idea, vision or craft. So, they trivialize your work and think they can do it too. That is, until they actually try it!
The Original Doesn’t Exist
They try their darnedest to not recognize the original creative. The perpetrator will pretend you don’t exist, but you know their watching because little hints of imitation start surfacing.
In the workplace, this may translate to a supervisor that refuses to acknowledge that you are a superstar employee or won’t give you responsibilities that will show your capabilities. The unoriginal love to hide the source of their genius, you.
Their Star Burns Out Fast
The biggest sign that someone is not original at all is when they run out of ideas. Once they no longer have that person that they can copy, steal from or suck the energy out of, they run into a brick wall.
You’ll see that they will repackage the original idea with small little differences and try to resell it as an entirely new idea. Sometimes it works, but then again, sometimes people can see right through it. Hence, all the YouTube videos pinpointing frauds.
Originators Can Protect Themselves
So, how do the original and creative overcome this? Always innovate and create. Once you create, the work doesn’t stop there. Now, you must copyright, trademark, and patent.
Then, so the perpetrator can’t get away with taking clout for your ideas or swag, you have to distribute. Release that idea or creativity to the world so that it’s documented publicly. How many times have fans of shows recognized that the concept was stolen from some poorer man’s creation documented on YouTube or social media?
If that is not enough, you can go the route of many. If you can’t beat them, join them. In so many words, you can easily return the favor.
How Perpetrators Can Help Solve The Problem
For those who aren’t naturally creative, instead of hogging the likes and looks for yourself, how about you bring on the real talented person and partner with them?
It’s more admirable to champion greats, anyhow. Look at Angelo Dundee, trainer to Muhammed Ali. Or Young Thug, rap mentor to the likes of Gunna and Lil Keed. Or Oprah Winfrey, who helped Iyanla Vanzant, Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres get their own talk shows. Their names will go down as legendary because they were not afraid to recognize the originators of talent and open the doors for other people. So, don’t live a selfish existence. Put people on, including those you copy.
To be honest, there’s nothing new under the sun. It’s inevitable that people will come out with similar ideas. However, it’s a whole different ball game when imprints of creativity are exactly the same. Same characters, colors, vibes, topics, style, etc.
There’s not one person on the Earth that has the same fingerprint. So, while we can imitate each other, it will never exactly be the same in comparison. But, it’s the principle that matters.
