Cast your mind back to your 12-year-old self.
Who did you want to be? Most of us wanted to be superstars or superheros.
Who did you think was the most perfect specimen of a being (ever!)? Maybe a singer or some other celebrity?
I wanted to be Janet Jackson. I’m a midlifer. So back in my childhood years, Janet Jackson was larger than life.Â
It wasn’t enough to watch her videos and dance along in admiration. No. That would be normal. (Never my style.)
I Â wanted to be her. So what do you do when you want to be someone you’re not? You watch their every move, study them, and try to be just like them.
I formed a fan club. We’d dress up Rhythm-Nation style, dance, sing, and pretty much look ridiculous. You couldn’t tell us that we weren’t a replica of our sacred leader. Here’s what we didn’t realize in our 12-year-old genius minds: Janet Jackson cannot be duplicated.
Nobody can. Â
If you’re a blogger, author, or creative entrepreneur, you’ve probably noticed the ocean of people vying for attention. How can you create a body of work that gets noticed and cannot be duplicated by anyone else?
You do this by writing from your true voice. Consistently.Â
It’s the precise way to rise above the noise. So, you’d think we’d all do it, right?
We don’t. Instead, in the process of admiring our mentors and the gurus,  our work starts to resemble theirs. And before we know it our websites and courses and blog posts are almost identical to the industry influencers. After all, if it worked for them, it must work for us, too, right?
Wrong.
What will work best for you is to create from your core. To connect with your voice and bleed it onto the page.Â
This doesn’t mean you will not get guidance and inspiration from mentors. Of course you will. But it does mean that when you write, create, produce your art, you do it from a place of your own truth. Not theirs or anybody else’s.
See, when you write from your true voice, you bring the truth of who you are (and all your experiences) to the page.
That cannot be duplicated.
When you get this, it loosens the grip of fear, jealousy, and competition. You no longer need to imitate anyone else and (thankfully) nobody can do that to you.
Sure they’ll try to copy you, unsuccessfully. But they haven’t lived your life. They cannot write from the unique, intricately woven perspective of who you are and who you’ve grown to be. Only one person can do that.
That’s you.
This is EXACTLY what I needed to hear today. so easy to fall into the trap of trying to fit a certain mould when it come to blogging but I want to always try and use my authentic voice. thank for sharing 🙂
Hi Ella,
So glad this resonated with you today. 🙂
I absolutely love this post!! 100% correct!! One of my favourite quotes is: “Your power is that you are you”. Great blog! 🙂
Thank you, Linda. So kind. And that is a great quote, indeed. Saving.
This post is the truth. It’s easier to be your true self, instead of trying to be someone else. It gets hard to keep up.
It is so much easier, right, Candace? Trying to be someone else is way more effort.
This is something everyone should be reminded of and thank you so much for sharing. Being newer to the travel blog industry, I am constantly looking at the well known travel blogs to figure out what they do and try to replicate it. As you said, it is important to get guidance but you do not need to be just like them. All leaders aren’t the same, why should bloggers be?
You’re welcome, Amy. We’ve all been there…staring at the bigger blogs and trying to imitate them. Glad you realize that we can’t all be the same, and don’t need to be. Thanks for stopping by.
I agree with this post.Thank you so much for sharing. I should remind myself that “you cannot be duplicated”
You’re welcome, Firdaus. 🙂
You are so right…when I first created my blog I told myself I will NOT do what others are doing but guess what? I was looking at everyone else blogs, their writing style, successes and where they’ve travelled too and suddenly I hated myself. I thought what is the point of joining this niche if you can’t even keep up with them. But I was later encourages to be me and write from the heart which was my intention anyways but got lost in a sea of blogs. Side note: When I was younger, I formed a band as well and we would perform in my apartment hallway. I created standing mics for us using the inner rolls of toilet paper, etc.
Hey, Anita
Writing from the heart is always the way to go. Thanks for sharing.
I see you had your band days, as well hahaha. Mic stand made from toilet paper rolls. Too funny. Big points for creativity, though, right? Love it!
I think this is such an important and difficult concept for writers to grasp, and you’ve done a really good job of explaining it. Your post is also a really good kick to just do you and keep moving.
“do you and just keep moving.” Exactly, Jo. Well put.
🙂