Steal this Idea:

A decade ago, while listening to Debbie Millman's Design Matters podcast at the gym, something she said made me stop the treadmill, hit rewind a few times so I could re-listen, then scramble to open my notes app so I could jot it down:

Millman was re-quoting the writer Dani Shapiro when she said, "Courage is more important than confidence… Confidence comes with repetition of courageous action.”

Mind. Blown.

I later quoted Debbie/Dani while I being interviewed for a podcast… then later I heard someone who'd heard that podcast attribute it to me. 

Oops. 

I believe in proper attribution, and I'm self-aware enough to know that my superpower is curating great ideas more than coming up with brand new ones.

But wait –maybe we're all good curators. 

(And/or, maybe there are some ideas that separately come to wise people's minds).

Case in point: 

The same concept of "Confidence Comes After Courage" has been attributed to Albert Bandura, Robbie Swale, Jen Brooks … and many, many more.

And it turns out, Aristotle was onto this idea way back in the day:

“Men become builders by building and lyre players by playing the lyre; so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

So what do you do when you want to have your own impactful idea? One that people associate with you (and in a way that you're not worried that you're accidentally ripping someone else off?).

Mark Twain actually put it well. He observed:

"There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combination… but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages."

We're all curators. There's no such thing as a truly original idea.

However, if you want to be known for something, if you want it to be your key concept, your bold point of view (important for helping ideas spread), or part of your brand-identity (especially as an entrepreneur), it's okay if you're not actually the first. 

You can lean on Stigler's Law: We associate an idea with the person we've heard say it the most –not whoever said it first.

• Brené Brown wasn't the first person to recognize that vulnerability=courage.

• Simon Sinek wasn't the first person who pointed out that it's important to know your deeper purpose.

• Donald Miller wasn't the first to realize that the "Hero's Journey" story-framework uniquely captured people's attention (and Joseph Campbell merely coined the phrase “Hero’s Journey” to describe a pattern that had existed for millenia).
  

But they all:

• Focused in on an idea,

• Applied it in a specific context,

• Gave it fresh wording ("Start with Why", “Daring Greatly”, "Storybrand"),

• Amplified it, and

• Repeated it.

What's your signature idea?

What/who do you hear yourself quoting over & over again? 

What concept guides you and touches on the way you approach your business/work/life?

How can you amplify it, give it interesting wording or a creative metaphor, use it in a new context, “make it yours”, and repeat it? 

It may take some courage to find and boldly stand for your big idea.

But hey, now you know that courage is what matters the most. The repetition will bring the confidence. 

You can quote me (or Aristotle) on that ;)

-Jane