33 Lessons That Changed How I Think About Creativity
You have never had an original thought in your life. Neither have I. Neither has anyone.
You have never had an original thought in your life. Neither have I. Neither has anyone.
Good.
Neither has any creator worth following. Stop trying to be original. Start learning how to steal. The best creators didn’t wait for original ideas — they just stole better than everyone else.
It took one book and 33 lessons to finally understand what creativity actually is.
I remember sitting in the library — surrounded by students with their noses buried in laptops and textbooks, doing what they were told. And I asked myself a question I couldn’t shake:
“Is this what it means to reach human potential? To sit behind a desk all day working on stuff that doesn’t feel fulfilling?”
I started questioning everything. Not just the degree — but the whole script. Does the world really need another person with a business degree? Probably not. But it needs another person who can solve specific problems.
Then came July 2023. I accidentally unenrolled from my summer class. Went to check my enrollment, thought everything was fine — and it wasn’t. I’d missed the window. And honestly? I was relieved. For the first time in a while, I had 30 days and nowhere to be.
That’s when someone recommended a Dan Koe video. I had no idea who he was. I gave it a shot. That one video changed the trajectory of my life. For the next 30 days, I consumed one Dan Koe podcast every single day on my walks. The realization hit me hard:
Knowledge is a creative asset. You can earn from what you know.
I didn’t need permission from teachers or anyone else. All I needed was the courage to start. If it was possible for somebody else, it was possible for me.
This led me down a rabbit hole of creativity — and straight into a book that rewired how I see ideas, art, and originality. That book was Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. Here are the 33 lessons I pulled from it. I hope they change you too.
Lesson 1: Originality Is Undetected Plagiarism
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” — T.S. Eliot
Every idea is a remix. Nothing more, nothing less.
Think of any piece of work you admire. It was inspired by something before it. And those ideas? Inspired by ideas before them. Originality is just old ideas combined in a way that’s never been combined before.
Believing you need to be original costs you everything: writer’s block, paralysis, never starting, never finishing. The pressure to create something from nothing is what keeps most people from creating anything.
I learned this firsthand through Dan Koe. I studied his writing, broke it down sentence by sentence, and reverse-engineered how he thought. I wasn’t copying him to become him. I was copying him to understand him. That’s the difference between imitation and theft.
The secret to being original is not being original at all.
Lesson 2: Garbage In, Garbage Out
Most people consume garbage — mindless scrolling, toxic news, low-quality entertainment — and wonder why they can’t create anything worth reading.
“The mind is dyed by the color of its thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelius
Your inputs shape your mind. Your mind shapes your output. It’s that simple. If what you’re consuming doesn’t serve your purpose, improve you, or benefit your growth — why are you feeding it to yourself?
After dropping out of college, I deliberately rebuilt what I consumed: books, podcasts, Stoic philosophy, psychology, creativity. That curation became the fuel for my writing. The quality of what I put in is the reason my output improved.
Input quality equals mind quality equals output quality. There is no shortcut.
Lesson 3: Collect Selectively, Not Indiscriminately
“Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul.” — Jim Jarmusch
Hoarders collect everything. Artists collect selectively. That distinction matters more than most people realize.
Your swipe file, your notepad, your highlights, your feed — these are your collections. Every single thing in there should have earned its place. Not because it’s interesting. Because it resonates. Because it speaks to you.
You’re only as good as the ideas you surround yourself with.
The goal isn’t to consume more. It’s to consume better.
Lesson 4: Study One Thinker, Climb the Tree
“It’s not the book you start with. It’s the book that book leads you to.” — Austin Kleon
Don’t try to devour the entire history of your discipline at once. You’ll choke. Instead: find one thinker you love. Learn everything about them. Then find the three people they loved. Repeat.
My tree: Dan Koe → the Stoics → Marcus Aurelius → Seneca. Once I went upstream, everything clicked. I understood why Dan thinks the way he does — because his ideas stem from theirs.
Jaylen Brown studied Kobe. Kobe studied Jordan. Jordan studied David Thompson and Dr. J. The chain goes back infinitely. Each generation climbs the tree of the one before.
But climbing the tree is only half of it.
Lesson 5: Imitation → Emulation → Your Own Thing
“Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find yourself.” — Yohji Yamamoto
“We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can’t steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice — and that’s how you find your voice.” — Francis Ford Coppola
Kobe Bryant didn’t develop his game alone. He studied Hakeem Olajuwon, Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan — breaking down their finest moments obsessively. But here’s the part nobody talks about: when Bryant stole those moves, he realized he couldn’t completely pull them off. He didn’t have the same body type. He had to adapt every move to fit his own frame. That adaptation became his style.
Johnny Carson tried to be Jack Benny — but ended up Johnny Carson. David Letterman tried to copy Johnny Carson — but ended up David Letterman. Conan O’Brien tried to be David Letterman — but ended up Conan O’Brien.
“It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.” — Conan O’Brien
You don’t copy to become them. You copy to become yourself.
Lesson 6: Your Failure to Copy Is Your Voice
Your biggest creative obstacle might be your greatest asset.
When you fail to perfectly imitate your hero — that failure is you emerging. The gap between who you are and who they are is not a deficiency. It’s your fingerprint.
“A wonderful flaw about human beings is that we’re incapable of making perfect copies. Our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives.” — Austin Kleon
Where I fall short of Dan Koe is exactly where I emerge as Anthony. I stopped trying to close that gap. I started amplifying it.
Stop trying to close the gap. Amplify it.
Lesson 7: Constraints Create Freedom
Every creative person I know hates rules. Every great creative I know uses them.
Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham after his editor at Random House, Bennett Cerf, bet him $50 that he couldn’t write an engaging children’s book using a vocabulary of only 50 words. The result sold over 200 million copies — the most popular thing Seuss ever made. The constraint didn’t kill the creativity. It curated it.
Structure lets creativity thrive. When you give your newsletter a title, a topic, a skeleton — you give your mind something to push against. Without it, entropy wins. Limitless possibilities are paralyzing.
“Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette — that just kills creativity.” — Jack White
You can’t think outside the box if there is no box.
Lesson 8: Enjoy Your Obscurity
You’re trying to go viral before you’re any good. That’s the problem.
Most people rush to build an audience before they’ve mastered their craft. You don’t just sit in front of a camera and magically explain ideas beautifully. Writing first. Articulation second. The rest follows.
“There’s no pressure when you’re unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things just for the fun of it.” — Austin Kleon
Obscurity is a gift. Nobody is watching means nobody is judging. You can experiment freely, find your voice, figure out what you actually believe. In my early newsletter days, nobody was reading — and that’s exactly when I found my voice. That freedom shaped everything.
Once people start paying attention, the freedom changes. Once they start paying money, it changes again.
Use your obscurity while you have it. You’ll miss it when it’s gone.
Lesson 9: Don’t Break the Chain
“Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time. Inertia is the death of creativity.” — Austin Kleon
Motivation is a lie. It comes and goes. The chain is real.
Jerry Seinfeld’s method is simple: get a wall calendar, fill a box every day, don’t break the chain. Your only goal is the X — not the outcome, not the quality, not the applause. Just the X.
I’ve published my newsletter for 40+ consecutive weeks. Not because every week felt inspired. Because the chain mattered more than the feeling. That compound consistency is what builds something real.
Creativity isn’t something you wait for. It’s something you schedule.
Amateurs wait for inspiration. Professionals fill the box.
The rest? Shorter. Just as important.
Lesson 10: Steal, Don’t Imitate
Stealing means making it your own. Imitating means copy-pasting. One creates art. The other creates a copy. Steal to transform, not to replicate.
Lesson 11: You Are a Mashup of Your Influences
You are the sum of what you let in. “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” — Goethe. Choose your influences like you choose your friends.
Lesson 12: Go Upstream
Don’t just study your heroes — study who inspired them. The roots explain the branches.
Dan Koe → Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi → Eckhart Tolle → Ken Wilber → Naval Ravikant → Alan Watts.
Ryan Holiday → Marcus Aurelius → Seneca → Epictetus.
The chain goes on and on. Go find yours.
Lesson 13: Always Be Reading
It’s not the book you start with. It’s the book that book leads you to. Read to solve problems. Read the classics. Read biographies. Let one book become three. I have never regretted picking up a book.
Lesson 14: Carry a Notebook Everywhere
Ideas don’t wait for you to be at your desk. David Hockney had his suit jackets tailored with pockets to fit a sketchbook. Arthur Russell wore shirts with two front pockets for score sheets. I carry a small notepad and pen everywhere I go. Your ideas deserve to be caught.
Lesson 15: Keep a Swipe File
See something worth stealing? Put it in the file. Your brain can only hold so much — about seven things at a time. A swipe file offloads that burden. Physical note cards, Notion, Apple Notes — whatever works. Just keep it.
Lesson 16: You Figure Out Who You Are by Making Things
You don’t find yourself by planning. You find yourself by doing. In the act of making, you discover who you are. Start. The clarity comes after.
Lesson 17: Impostor Syndrome Is Universal
Nobody knows what they’re doing. They just show up anyway. “You start out as a phony and become real.” — Glenn O’Brien.
Lesson 18: Start by Copying What You Love
At the end of the copy, you find yourself. Don’t skip this phase. Every master was once someone’s student.
Lesson 19: Copying Is Reverse Engineering
You’re not stealing the car — you’re taking it apart to see how it works. That’s how mechanics learn. That’s how artists learn. Understand the machine before you build your own.
Lesson 20: Copy From Many, Not One
Copy one person = plagiarism. Copy a hundred = research. Copy a thousand = original. The more sources, the more yourself you become.
Lesson 21: Amplify What Makes You Different
When you fall short of copying your hero, examine why. That gap is not failure. That gap is your voice. Stop trying to close it. Amplify it.
Lesson 22: Write What You Like, Not Just What You Know
Create the things you wish existed. Make what you genuinely want to consume. The best work comes from real curiosity, not obligation.
Lesson 23: Ask “What Would Make a Better Story?”
Whenever you’re stuck, use this as your compass. Your life is a narrative. Every choice is a story decision. Choose the better story.
Lesson 24: Use Your Hands
Computers put glass between you and what you’re making. Get physical. Write longhand. Sketch. Draw. Your hands are the original digital devices.
Lesson 25: Side Projects Are Where the Magic Happens
The stuff you thought was just messing around — that’s the good stuff. Your best work often starts as play. Don’t force it. Follow it.
Lesson 26: Boredom Is a Creative Tool
Your best ideas don’t come at your desk. Walk. Wash the dishes. Stare at the wall. “Avoiding work is the way to focus my mind.” — Maira Kalman. Boredom is not wasted time. It’s where the ideas live.
Lesson 27: Don’t Discard Any of Your Passions
Keep them all. Let them mix. Let them talk to each other. Something will begin to happen. You’re not one thing — you’re a polymath in the making. Let all your interests coexist.
Lesson 28: Share Your Process, Not Just Your Output
People love watching the work happen. You don’t need a finished product to share something valuable. Open the door. Let them in.
Lesson 29: Put Yourself Online to Find What to Say
Not just to publish finished ideas but to discover them. The internet is an incubator. Having a container inspires you to fill it. Start before you’re ready.
Lesson 30: Routine Beats Having a Lot of Time
You don’t need big open blocks. You need consistency. Parkinson’s Law: work expands to fill the time available. Schedule it small. Do it daily.
Lesson 31: A Day Job Gives You Freedom in Your Art
Financial stress kills creativity. Money removes the desperation that makes bad art. Your part-time work isn’t a compromise — it’s a strategy.
Lesson 32: Creativity Is What You Leave Out
Editing is creating. What you choose not to include is as important as what you put in. Subtraction is a creative act.
Lesson 33: Find the Most Talented Person in the Room
Harold Ramis’s rule: find the most talented person in the room. If it’s not you, go stand next to them. Learn from them. Steal from them.
And if you are the most talented person in the room — find another room.
“In the end, merely imitating your heroes is not flattering them. Transforming their work into something of your own is how you flatter them. Adding something to the world that only you can add.” — Austin Kleon
There are two sides of a coin. I was only looking at one.
This book unlocked the other side. It gave me what school never could — permission to steal, to play, to create without apology.
Your creativity isn’t dead. It’s not even sleeping. It’s just waiting for you to stop trying to be original and start learning how to steal well.
Go make the thing.
If this resonated, restack it. Share it with one person who needs to read it. Every creative person deserves to find this.
— Anthony
Those are very profound lessons from just one book! Thanks for sharing :D
I love this article! So many good lessons and thought provoking ideas! Honestly I've thought a lot of these things but I've always been afraid to say them out loud. I say to myself often "why reinvent the wheel??" Thanks!