Austin Klein in his book “Steal like an Artist” recognized and popularized the profound philosophy that ‘nothing is completely original.’ Every new idea is a mashup of previous ideas. Every great innovator, from Leonardo da Vinci to Steve Jobs, stood on the shoulders of giants, absorbing the world around them and remixing it into something new.
The most successful people in life, business, and ministry understand this. They are not empty vessels waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration from the heavens. They are curators, connectors, and alchemists. They know that creativity is subtraction as much as it is addition, and that the path to finding your own voice begins by imitating the voices you love and those that speak to you.
Your journey to a more successful and authentic existence does not start from a blank page, but from a well-stocked treasure chest of influences. Here are the best ways to increase your brilliance and ability to succeed by stealing like an artist.
Begin by trying to understand why anything was used or done. Make the effort to understand the what and how anything you admire was achieved. What this teaches is that you should not just copy another person’s template. Study how they think about problems. How do they structure their work? What principles guide their decisions? Focus on engineering their thought process, not just their results.
As a minister, don’t just preach another pastor’s sermon. Don’t try to shout like another pastor. Study how they exegete a scripture, how they connect biblical truth to everyday life. Understand their method of study and application, not their anecdotes. Your originality comes from using the methods with your own stories and ways of application.
Make your life a scrapbook of many experiences of diverse people. Collect the good, bad, failures, successes and happy moments. An artist’s mind is a scrapbook of the world. They collect ideas, quotes, images, and experiences from everywhere—books, nature, conversations, failures.
I keep a file of collected stuff. You can use a notebook or a digital app to save anything that resonates with you, as you go through your day. A quote or line of poetry, a business model you admire, a beautiful photo, a lesson from a personal failure.
Collect marketing ideas, product features, and customer service stories from industries completely unrelated to your own. Your unique combination of these ideas will become your unique perspective.
Learn how to blend the ideas and thoughts of other people with your own thoughts and ideas. A DJ is a special type of artist. They blend dozens of songs to create a new experience for the dance floor. Your job is to be the DJ of your life, business, career or ministry. Take the ideas you have collected and combine them in a way that only you can.
Let your personal style be a remix of the people you admire, the cultures you have experienced, and your own practical needs. Don’t dress like someone else; dress like a version of yourself inspired by many others. Combine skills and ideas from unrelated fields.As a preacher, blend timeless scripture with modern metaphors from film, music, and current events. This creates a bridge that makes ancient wisdom relevant and powerful to audiences.
The most important person to steal from is the person you were yesterday. Your past work is a goldmine of unfinished ideas, lessons learned, and foundations you can build upon. Regularly review your old projects, journals, and ideas. A failed business plan from years ago might contain the kernel of your next great venture. Remember, your past self was working for your future self; don’t let that work go to waste. Progress is often about revisiting and refining, not always starting from scratch.
The non-negotiable rule that separates the thief from the artist is that a thief takes and hides but an artist takes, transforms, and shares generously, often giving credit to their inspirations. Be open about your influences. Citing your sources doesn’t weaken your authority; it strengthens it by showing you’re well-read and connected to a larger tradition. You become a guide, pointing your audience to other great work while adding your own unique value to the conversation.
A pastor blocked me on social media when he shared something from another pastor and claimed ownership by removing every detail of the original author. I pointed it out to him and he blocked me instead of taking the correction. When you share an idea you’ve built upon, credit the original thinker. This builds trust, fosters community, and invites collaboration. You’re not just taking; you’re participating in a ecosystem of ideas.
The pressure to be a lone genius is a lie. It leads to paralysis and burnout. True success in your life, your career, your business, your calling, comes from embracing your influences, honoring your teachers, and fearlessly combining the best of what you see around you into something only you can make.
Be a noble thief. Fill your pockets with the gems of others, then return to your workshop and build a new jewel box. Then show the world the jewel you have made.
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