Creative Emulation (Be Better Not A Clone)

I’ve been interested in the creator economy for a while now. But I’ve always watched as a spectator, and never really dived in. Mostly because I didn’t know who I wanted to be in this digital world.

I’d see all these creators promoting all these “new business models”, but I never found anyone who actually understood me. I wanted to make money sure, but I wanted to make money by being myself.

Then, one day, I discovered the legendary Dan Koe.

He popped up out of nowhere in my YouTube recommendations, and boom, it was like "what am I watching here?".

His ideas were genuinely interesting, every video was like eating Pringles chips, once you start, you can’t stop. But what struck me wasn’t that he made money, it was how he made it.

Work 4 hours a day. Build digital products that work while you sleep. Write about things that interest you while promoting your stuff.

But that’s a topic for another day.

What I want to say is that for me, it felt like a kind of awakening. As if I had been asleep until that moment. And the funny thing is that he didn’t invent anything.

He himself often says: “Nobody has original ideas” but because he was similar to me in terms of age, gender, goals, problems, the message resonated more.

From there, I started following everything he did. Reading his posts, watching all his content, taking his courses. And in my mind, something happened:

“I want to become like him.”

Which soon turned into “I want to be him.”

At first, it was a positive thing. He pushed me to become a better version of myself. If you follow Dan, you know how much he talks about lifestyle design, productivity, focus, and self-development in general.

But eventually, it turned into a kind of obsession. It wasn’t inspiration anymore. Every decision I made had to pass through one question:

“What would Dan do?”

Which is not completely wrong.

But before asking “What would Dan do?” I should have asked “What would I do?”.

The more I tried to be him, the more I drifted away from myself. I was losing my identity. I was shaping myself around an idea of someone I wasn’t. When I realized this, I felt something wasn’t right.

The thing is that it didn't just happen with him. It happened with other people too. I’m talking about him because he had a huge influence on me. But also with writers and creators like Tom Noske, Mark Manson, and even in music artists like Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Michael Bublé.

Every time I admired someone, I wanted to become them. So I took a moment for self-analysis and reflection.

Who am I really? Who do I want to be?

And that’s when I realized that the problem wasn’t the imitation itself. The idea of imitation was right. But the method was wrong.

I kept focusing on one person at a time. Following the same path: Zooming in, copying, obsessing. And that’s where I saw the mistake.

So I tried something different.

I started rebuilding my identity in a smarter, more natural way.

Because imitation is like a compass, but if you don’t use it properly you're going to break it and end up lost.

From The Dawn Of Time To The Modern Era

Imitation is a natural part of human nature. It’s something that has always existed since the dawn of time. Human beings have evolved over centuries by relying on it. Creativity itself is built on imitation. Everything around us is an input we can use to create something.

Think, for example, about the invention of the wheel.

Nothing against human intuition, but if you think about it, nature itself gave us clues: the sun is round, so is the moon, and so are many natural shapes like stones, for instance.

If you throw a stone, it starts to roll. From there to thinking “hey, why don’t we make a round piece of wood?” it’s a short step. Inputs are everywhere.

Even the ideas we call “original” may come from our subconscious. They’re often unconscious recombinations of things we’ve already seen. This doesn’t mean an idea isn’t truly original but it is the way we define “original” that should to be reevaluated.

Even an idea taken from someone else can become original if it’s reframed through a new lens.

Unfortunately, people often don’t get this. They think that just because they’ve come up with an interesting idea they’re geniuses. But in truth, it’s more likely they saw something days or weeks earlier that stuck in their memory just waiting for the right moment to come out.

There’s a great TED Talk on this, by the way. It explains the concept of original ideas really well. You should check it out.

Today, imitation is even more inevitable.

The modalities have changed, of course. We live in the modern era, and the things we imitate are different from those of primitive humans — who needed to learn how to make fire to survive the cold — but the underlying concept is still the same.

And I say it’s even more inevitable now because of the sheer amount of data we consume every day. We’re immersed in other people’s content. We shape our identities based on other people’s ideals, on our own problems and desires.

We see someone who has something we want, and so we imitate the actions they take in order to get the same result.

“This guy makes money by making YouTube videos? Then maybe if I make YouTube videos, I can make money too.”

And so on.

And honestly, that’s okay.

Then we can talk about how creative someone really is about the quality of their creativity and that’s where you can see the difference between those who are “more” or “less” creative.

The real problem begins when imitation turns into what I call compulsive imitation.

The Compulsive Imitation

Compulsive imitation is a byproduct of our lack of understanding about intelligent imitation.

It’s not knowing what you’re doing or why. It’s following blindly, driven entirely by emotion instead of logic.

As I mentioned earlier with my own experience, there are certain “symptoms” if we can call them that like:

- “What would the person I admire do?”

- Absorbing ideas without filtering them

- Not thinking with your own head

It’s a bit like that scene in the TV show Suits (if you haven’t seen it, seriously, go watch it — it’s awesome), where Louis Litt tries to act like Harvey Specter and completely forgets who he is.

Having a role model is essential, otherwise you end up wandering aimlessly, but if you don’t understand that your role model is just a reference point, a spark of inspiration, you risk turning off your creativity and living in someone else’s shadow.

The Creative Emulation (Go Beyond)

Most people think they’re intelligently imitating their idols but in reality, they’re just copying them and unconsciously turning into clones.

There’s a subtle difference between imitation and emulation:

- To imitate means to copy.

- To emulate means to surpass.

Some call it stealing like an artist (Austin Kleon), others call it intelligent imitation (Dan Koe).

I call it Creative Emulation.

To me, it’s not just about taking inspiration.

I want to be better.

Because if you really think about it, when you aim to go beyond, you automatically need to invest more energy and that’s a good thing. It pushes you. It drives you. Sticking to pure imitation is a waste. You’re limiting yourself. You’re locking yourself into a standard. Instead, you should want to break that standard. That’s the only way to do something remarkable.

Here’s an example:

I’m a designer, and paradoxically, when I tried to design my own personal website, I had no idea how to start. I’m pretty good at building websites for others but when I had to do mine, I was blank.

So I used Dan Koe website as a starting point. But I wanted to improve it in specific areas.

When reading Dan’s articles, I sometimes had a hard time. Not because of how he wrote but because of the visual design of the blog.

I personally love white text on black background, but sometimes I also prefer black on white. It just feels lighter on the eyes in some devices. So when I built my site, I thought:

Why not offer both a dark mode and a light mode, and let the reader choose how to read?

And that’s what I did.

When you take inspiration from someone, ask yourself:

What could I do better?

This puts you in a player mindset, not a spectator one. A path with no limits, where you want your name next to your heroes and not just watching them from the stands. Where you become a rival, not just some random guy in the crowd.

Don’t Have Just One Mentor

“If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research.” — Wilson Mizner

One thing I’ve learned is that obsession often comes from not having options.

Every time I got obsessed with someone, I realized it was mostly because I didn’t have any other place to look.

When you’re lost in the middle of nowhere, a single beam of light becomes your whole world.

That’s when I understood:

Having multiple influences is essential to building your identity in a healthy and natural way, because it gives you different reference points. And more importantly, it gives you a sense of freshness.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have a main influence. Everyone has one, that’s normal. The trick is to learn how to “steal” or “borrow” specific things from multiple people and make them your own.

Even Michael Bublé, in an interview on The Diary of a CEO, talks about how he took the best from the greatest singers.

In my case, this is a fundamental part of who I am, especially in my music. I have a whole encyclopedia of mentors and inspirations.

The thing is that there’s no finish line here. It’s not a game with a final score. You can change influences at any time. And that’s the most beautiful part of it.

Of course, with time and age, this evolves. Who knows? No one can say. It will depend on the choices you make and the person you decide to become.

Be Super Specific

Saying you want to be like someone means nothing. It’s the lack of specificity that makes you blind. Blinded by some vague idea of a person you can’t even define clearly. And this applies to every level, from the most superficial to the most profound.

Knowing exactly what you like (and what you don’t) about someone gives you power. The power to choose who you want to be.

Because here’s the thing:

Just because two people admire the same person doesn’t mean they admire the same things.

- Is it the way he speaks?

- The way he writes?

- The way he thinks?

- His logo?

- His website?

- The content he makes?

- Which content exactly?

What exactly do you like about that person? And more importantly, why?

Think For Yourself

One of the most common traps is not thinking with your own head.

You get so wrapped in wanting to become someone else that you wouldn’t even disagree with them even if they said something completely stupid from your actual point of view.

Thinking you agree with someone on everything is a fantasy. It doesn’t exist. Not even with your mother, your partner, or your best friend. It’s not possible. And that’s a massive problem, because it shapes how you think and what you believe.

Being clear-headed means knowing when the person you admire the most is saying something you actually don’t agree with. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Being different and thinking differently is fine (as long as your emotions don’t cloud your critical thinking).

If your idol believes one thing, and you believe another, good. That means there’s something real to explore.

So ask yourself:

Why don’t I agree?

Dig deeper. Explore it.

Think with your own mind or you’ll end up having to borrow someone else’s thus atrophying your brain and creating a cognitive debt similar to what you would have if you let an AI think completely for you.

To Conclude

You don’t become yourself by avoiding influence. You become yourself by filtering it. By turning it into something new. Something yours.

Imitation is not the enemy. Mindless imitation is.

But when you pay attention, when you choose what to absorb and how, that’s when imitation becomes a creative tool. That’s when it turns into emulation. Not just copying. But trying to go beyond. To grow, to refine, to surpass, in your own way.

That’s how you create your own identity. That’s what makes you original.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading.

See you next time.

Your Italian Friend - Alessandro