We are unique copywrites we can write better than Shakespeare, with our writing we can literally make thunder and boost your company. These are the tag lines at many advertising agencies in Sri Lanka. The simple act of catching a rat with a trap is hard for them when we pragmatically start the project. The worst scenario is that they try to cover their inability with posh English. these people who can't catch the rat become copycats. it's called Plagiarism in professional terms. It's the highest crime a creator can do legally, ethically, and spiritually. Dictionaries explain this word as "the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own." We can't be independent in today's context. We need to understand that plagiarism is not inspiration. We can copy or quote we but then must mention the original creator.
Why these ads agencies fall into plagiarism. we can identify two reasons for this.
- Lack of respect to the client
- These ad agencies think that we are idiots. We know nothing. So they copy from anywhere and present it as their own.
- Laziness or Mediocrity
- they want to earn easy bucks. They don't do research, don't read books. When the deadline comes present some crap.
What's the cure for plagiarism and As toastmasters how can we not fall into trap of plagiarism? We should not fall into mediocrity. Let me give you few methods I use to create original content.
What's the best place you get original ideas? You wouldn't surprise by the answer. Many creators say it's the washroom, actually when sitting on a commode. You too may have this experience. Why this place? We haven't researched this or the scientific experiment. commonsense can give some idea. When we go to the washroom we become disconnect from the outer world. Our brains start to go deep. when we stimulate the deep places of the brain it provides different, unique ideas, even we might feel from where these ideas come. Although Mariana Trench has a bottom your brain doesn't and it can hold serval universes. So if you can touch these deep places of your brain you can bring new ideas. I don't like to call this meditation. Once we say meditation it becomes religious and all religions are hypocritical. So let's say deep thinking. Go to a calm place and think about yourself, if you have a speech to prepare think about your experience with the theme and how to connect. Some complaint I can't think in that way. Then you have to train your brain. Try this at home Take a white paper write the most striking idea you have (It can be the love of Elena, Romance of Juliat, Das Capital of Marxs is a lie, Quantum physics can explain ghosts, etc) on it and go to the beach to think about that idea. If you can't think about the internal part of the idea think about the external part of the idea. Imagine the colors of the words written on the page. Imagine that words get wings and fly and come to your ears and go to inside of the brain. trust me this exercise is better than marijuana or alcohol. We also call visualization, be careful this can have a long-term effect on your creativity. It will improve rapidly.
When I don't have original ideas I travel. I travel on my motorbike. I get many ideas while I travel. (Not about girls by the roadside) Cold wind that surpasses makes your brain cool or hot if it's noon. I have written whole speeches on the bike. But keep a part of the idea on the head and let your brain go wild. But be careful when you do this because it's on the road. In Sri Lanka, road accidents are a killer.
The two methods I explained above are natural, I sometimes use a scientific method as well. This is a very popular method in the IT field. It's called Brainstorming. It has similar traits to the above methods. First, sit at a table. take a white paper. write down the subject. Now write down anything that comes to the mind. Say you want to write about " How emotions affect to handicap", your paper can have that old dog is barking, oh my mother in law, will my mother in law give her property to me, how silly I am, I can't do this, etc. You may have 100 different sentences on the paper that's not related to the theme. But you will also find 3, 4 ideas that related to your theme. after writing for an hour or 45 minutes you can analyze what's on the paper and separate what is vital for your speech. Now build on those ideas. Here also we touch deep areas of the brain and we train the brain to imagine.
You can become great creators by doing research. If you are a speaker and if you want to become a professional speaker you need to research. We are fortunate enough to live in a time of information technology where you have information at your fingertips. But don't be lazy at the research. Don't just follow the web, watch youtube videos, ted talks, and many universities that we can't afford to go have published lectures on youtube. Harvard Business school, Oxford, and Cambridge universities have their channels. When you have information blend your ideas into that information. Rember to mention where you have quoted the idea.
I hope these 4 medicines will help you to cure your mediocrity and become great speakers.
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