In his stimulating and provocative book, Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman gives this advice – originality lies on the far side of unoriginality. The principle is that if you want to be innovative and unconventional it is probably better to serve your time learning a conventional skill before branching out on your own creative route. Beethoven’s early compositions were strictly in the classical style before he created a musical revolution with the Romantic movement. Pablo Picasso started with traditional academic art training, but later co-founded the Cubism movement, revolutionizing the way we perceive and represent reality. David Bowie was Initially a routine musician and pop singer under the name Davy Jones. He reinvented himself multiple times, pioneering glam rock, art rock, and electronic music.
Burkeman quotes a story from Finnish photographer Arno Minkkinen. Helsinki bus station has over 20 platforms with buses departing to destinations all over the country. But nearly all the buses follow the same initial route through and out of the city. If you compare your experience with that of other passengers, then for the first period you are seeing the same things as everyone else on every other bus. It is only later that the buses diverge on different roads. Similarly, if you want to be a creative artist, writer, musician or entrepreneur then your initial journey will be similar to many other apprentices. But do not give up. Stay on the bus.
There are examples of geniuses who were original from the word go. Salvador Dali, Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein spring to mind. But they are rare. Most great innovators served their time and learnt their trade before taking a fork into the unknown. Oprah Winfrey began as a local news anchor, a conventional media career, before building a media empire and becoming a powerful philanthropist. Andy Warhol developed his skills as a commercial illustrator, but became a leading figure in the Pop Art movement, challenging traditional notions of art and celebrity. The original lies beyond the unoriginal so stay on the bus for a little while.
