Have you ever seen your words, ideas, and work used elsewhere? Sometimes it’s subtle and at other times it’s just a straight lift. How has that made you feel?
A friend of mine sent me something today pointing out where someone was plagiarizing my work. She was disturbed. I was inspired.
What? Inspired? Why be inspired by a copy cat?
I used to get upset about these kinds of things and then realized that imitation by others is truly a guarantee that you’re on to something great. Master copycats know one, maybe two crafts: copy and paste. Yes, the good ole Control-C, Control-V, but they know nothing else.
I learned several years back is that no one can fake real.
I’ll say that again. No one else can fake real. When you have something and its truly yours, it’s not something anyone else can take from you. Oh sure they can try, but people see through that. When something isn’t genuine, raw and from the heart, real people (the ones that matter) see through it. They know fake when they see it.
Consistency in your creation, acts, words and the like (and your willingness to share openly) is what separates the creative versus the wanna-be’s.
After all, artists know their colors, the palette, and subject matter deeply. They create. Copy cats don’t create. They only know how to use, well you know…the copy machine!
The next time someone takes your words or ideas either subtly or in whole…do yourself a favor and keep creating more.
The world knows and rewards real….and you’re on to something!
PS – Thanks to the person who created the above image. I got it from Google and not really sure of the source because you can find it a few places across the internet. (Such a great thing now isn’t it.) If it’s yours, kindly let me know so I can properly attribute!
This isn’t worth getting mad over. I have found that people like this do not just copy someone else’s work- they copy personality traits, business ideas, etc. to make up for their own deficiencies. I just had a situation where I told a “friend” some ideas of mine and before I knew it she had my phone number blocked and is now using my ideas to her benefit. I don’t even care because I know who I am as do people who know me. Why be a copy + paste when you can be an original? Thanks for this one Katie!
Copy cats are not all bad. Many of us are good at creating ideas but poor in executions. Copy cats are the opposite of us. They are doers and if they could multiply our ideas and spread them around, why not… Think of them as a vehicle to help spread good ideas. Very few original ideas could spread the way copy cats do..
I have initiated a lot of good projects at my workplace and hardly been acknowledged. Some of them expanded / copied and used elsewhere. I look back at them and smile to myself for I know that whatever I do I have put my heart and soul in them. I do not look for rewards, the result of my upbringing: to share and not to ask for rewards.
The success of those projects speak for themselves. They must be good for people to want to copy them. I do not get upset and silently thank them for spreading the good work around which many of us would not be able to do so..
Katie, thank you for sharing. I have kept my thoughts to myself for a long time and it feels good to know that there are people out there who shares some of my views.