“The Art of Becoming Original”

“The Art of Becoming Original”

This morning’s reflection came from something I heard on a podcast about creativity. It said that true creativity doesn’t appear out of thin air. It’s born from curiosity… from collecting what you love and reframing it through your own perspective.

When you’re an artist, a coach, a parent, or even a person trying to grow, you don’t start with nothing. You start by studying the greats who went before you. You learn from their patterns, their struggles, their wisdom. You watch, you listen, and you copy—not to duplicate, but to understand. Copying is the bridge to creating.

Once you’ve learned the rules, you begin to bend them. You fill in the cracks with your own experience, your own flavor, your own story. That’s when it transforms.

I think about Bella Love and her bowling. She studied the greats who came before her—their techniques, their focus, their routines—and then she added her own personality, her own joy, her own spin to it.

And I think about my own coaching. I’ve studied the greats too—the ones who taught growth mindset, the psychology of sport, and the heart of leadership. I’ve read, listened, and learned. I’ve stood on their shoulders so that I could build something that carries my voice, my story, my purpose.

Even in marriage, in my walk with God, and in life itself, it’s the same. Barbi and I learn from those who have lived out love through storms and seasons. We study people who’ve built marriages that last. We study people who’ve lived faith that endures. Then we take pieces of all those lessons and create our own version—our own original.

So, the goal isn’t to chase what’s popular or imitate what everyone else is doing. The goal is to learn from those you care about, the ones who live with excellence, and let their example help you form your own voice.

Because when you do the work you care about, by learning from those you care about, you become the truest version of yourself. That’s where originality begins.