Everything Old Is New To Someone

or HOW TO RECYCLE GOOD IDEAS AND SPEND MORE TIME DOING LESS

I learned one of the most valuable pieces of advice from a Property Brother.

No, not a home renovation tip. In fact, in the 7 or so years I’ve known them, I don’t think I’ve ever even talked about about home renovations with either Drew or Jonathan Scott.

No, this was a tip from Drew about how not to burn out. I was lamenting to him about how draining it could get to create new videos for social media every day or two. I mean, it’s super fun but super fun things can also be tiring things. They are not mutually exclusive.

Drew asked me how many videos I had made to that point. I think it was then (about 4 years into making them) around 1,100. Yes, eleven hundred.

He said that I’d be silly if I wasn’t reposting or re-purposing some of the more timeless ones. Further to that, he also said that just because the videos or concepts are old to me or those who’ve seen them, there are a whole new crop of people who’ve never seen them and they’d be brand new to them.

That bit of advice has saved me from total burn out more than once.

I’ve been thinking about this lately with Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill at the top of the charts thanks to its re-discovery by fans of the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Just because you and I have known the song since it was released in 1985, doesn’t mean everyone has heard it… and when they do, it’s brand new to them.

I’m kinda jealous.

I spent a creative day last week (also read: a don’t burn out day) re-recording an old song I wrote when I was 16. I even made a wacky lyric video for it which you can watch here.

The song is very 1980s. It’s not for everyone and it’s certainly not my usual fare for content on social media… but some people quite enjoyed it.

More importantly, I enjoyed it and I gained something from the process of revisiting an old idea.

There’s something inspiring about picking up something you’d crafted or created or even contemplated many years ago. You at once remember who you were when you first conjured it but then you now have all of the insight and perspective of the intervening years.

It’s like you’ve travelled back in time to talk to yourself except now you’re a lot wiser.

I think this applies to more than just ‘art’. I think it applies to ideas, decisions, and practices.

It might serve us well to revisit old ideas and run them through the filter of age and experience.

We could decide to leave those ideas in the past if they’ve exhausted their usefulness… or we could end up remolding them into brand new ideas.

Everything old is new to someone.

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(pictured: author [r] revisits his choice of aqua teal shirt and sweater)