How to perform a Mimetic Counter Move
In martial arts, every move has a counter-move. Check for instance these two young Judo fighters.
Fighter 1 (in blue) attacks fighter 2 (in white). Then fighter 2 counters and hits the attacker cold-bloodedly onto the ground.
If this holds true in martial arts, why shouldn’t it also hold in true in the ultimate martial art – life itself? How do you perform a counter move that turns a thin desire into a thick desire?
IDOLS
We all have idols. People, music, and films that energize us. That inspire us.
And as I hate the abstract, let’s do a role-play, shall we?
You are an up and coming entrepreneur. You are inspired by Steve Jobs. And you want the world to know in which footsteps you see yourself. But wearing denim jeans, New Balance and a black turtle-neck are, well, a bit too much on the nose, right?
But since you consider yourself artistic, too, Picasso would do, wouldn’t he? He is cool, but not top of mind for most people. So you do some research and come across this Apple ad about Picasso and you see: hey, what is this shirt he is wearing? If I’m a creative entrepreneur, maybe I should wear this, too? Wouldn’t this give me the aura of a creative disruptor?
Picasso’s shirt becomes attractive to you because Picasso (and his position and reputation) are desirable to you (and you are not a simple shmock cheaply copying Jobs). You enter the world of (thin) mimetic desires.
You can’t help it. You buy that Breton shirt and next time you are looking, you are leisurely drinking a longdrink on a hip rooftop bar. You have made it. Congratulations.
MIMETIC COUNTER-MOVE
Except you just wasted a huge opportunity to hit that thin desire on the floor.
Here is how you could perform a counter attack:
You take that longing, you take that burning desire to be seen like Picasso and then you ask yourself: What is it that fascinates me about this guy and what would it look like if I expressed this in myself?
There are many things that fascinate you about Picasso. But outstanding is his reputation to create something new, something disruptive out of nothing.
You know that Cubism was born out of his discovery of abstract African masks and applying this style to his paintings which resulted in his breakthrough as a painter.
What you are fascinated with is not necessarily the fame and polarisation, but on second sight there is something deeper. You ask yourself: Picasso was creating something completely new not because he was a genius, but because he collected a vast amount of inputs and combined them in novel ways.
So, how could you as an entrepreneur express that inspiration in yourself?
You have some ideas: You could meet more diverse people. You could visit museums to think about things outside of business. You could create more space in your calendar for random things. You could start writing on Twitter to get exposed to other thinkers and ideas. You could get wasted in a bar with your friends (just like Picasso did).
WALK ALONGSIDE
Whatever it is: The counter move is not to blindly and superficially copy someone else. The counter move is to use your passion to go deeper and look at what makes your heart move with that person, piece of art, music, or technology.
As a template, ask yourself these two questions:
What is it really that fascinates me about this person and her work?
What would it look like if I authentically expressed this in myself?
Don’t follow people. Either walk alongside, or not at all.
– Naval
And this is – ladies and gentlemen – how you perform a Mimetic Counter Move. Hit that thin mimetic desire on the ground.
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