When babies mimic people around them it’s adorable and amusing. But when adults do it? Not so much! Unfortunately we do it often without even realising it! Here are some places to be aware, so we can stop imitating others and be more ourselves.

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She held her tiny pink baby hairbrush in her chubby little tiny hands, and pretended to comb whatever few strands of hair she had on her head. All of us who looked at her went, “aww, so cute!” And then, she went on to bite the handle. I was like, “Chi, chi! Don’t bite the handle!”

Then she tried to comb her again, and then tried to bite the handle. Comb-bite. Comb-bite. I started to laugh! “What’s she doing? This little baby wants to taste everything?”

That was my friend’s baby girl, when she was 11 months old.

She had just learned to stand on her own, and she was in the hall facing a mirror. Well, the mirror wasn’t at her height. It was right up, high upon the wall, but she was facing in its direction anyway, and doing all this.

My friend said, “No, she’s trying to imitate her mom. She’s mimicking her mom.”

Her mom combs her hair, and then, when she has to tie her hair up, she grips her comb in her mouth because there’s no desk or anything to keep it in front of that mirror in the hall. She temporarily holds the comb in her mouth and then she ties her hair up.

This little baby girl had been watching her mom do this. Comb the hair, put the handle in her mouth, and then tie her hair up.

So that’s what she thought has to be done.

“What is this pink thing in my hand? I have to touch it to the top of my head, and then I have to bite the handle.” It was so cute! It was the most adorable thing!!!

Hi, I’m Susmitha Veganosaurus and you’re listening to The Feel Good Factor Podcast. I’m so glad you’re here today. If you like this episode, then sign up for my newsletter. You’re going to love the little stories I share in there, along with lots of tips and other things.

The story that I told you about my friend’s little girl, it’s very cute the things babies do, right? They’re always watching us, and trying to mimic us. We don’t even know they’re doing it. We don’t know what they’re picking up, what they’re absorbing. But when they do it, of course we find it adorable because they don’t know what’s right or wrong. They’re just watching us and learning.

When adults do it? Not so adorable anymore. But we do it all the time!

So in this episode, I wanted to talk about a couple of situations where I myself have done this, but also I’ve seen others do it.

We simply, without questioning, without even realising, imitate others or mimic others. We watch others do something and we think that’s the way it’s meant to be done.

Sometimes it’s an influence of the previous generation – our parents, aunts uncles, grandparents also. But a lot of the time, especially in today’s world of social media, the influence is from people around us.

We see someone doing something online and we think that’s the way it’s meant to be done.

And this happens in a matter of a split second. We don’t actually think of this in logical terms. We just see it and we think it’s the done thing.

When Reels came out, I saw the worst examples of this! Initially, Instagram Reels were a pretty cool concept. It was very fun. People did some nice stories. They would record them and post them. It was entertaining, it was creative ,it was interesting, all of that.

Yes, it started out that way. But then more and more people wanted to start making Reels because Instagram was pushing that, right? The algorithm was pushing that. So people felt forced to make reels. And instead of using their own thought processes, their own creativity, they went around looking at what others were doing. And then they tried to badly imitate it.

Well, they didn’t try to be bad, but they ended up being bad as they tried to imitate.

Then the whole platform was flooded with a lot of nonsense, a lot of rubbish videos. Music being played in the background while the lyrics distract you and then people pointing to some words, which disappear in a matter of hardly half a second.

They’re trying to share some message, but really, it doesn’t make any sense. None of it makes any sense, any more, but they’re just doing it and dancing around.

There was a lot of nonsense out there. Like, it totally, completely me put me off reels. Enough, in fact, that I recorded a whole episode about it. If you’re interested, you can listen to episode number 144: Sick of Instagram Reels infesting your feed? Here are five ways you can make it better for yourself.

So that’s one example of the difference between the people who’re actually being original and creative, and people who’re just watching others and doing things because they thought that’s the way things are supposed to be done. And it spoilt an entire platform, kind of set it on its path to dying.

Another place where I see people mimicking others or doing things a certain way because they think that’s the way it’s done…A lot of small business owners, people who have become my clients, one of the things I get them to change is this…

They use a lot of very formal, corporate language to promote their product or service.

They see this kind of language being used on websites or in other places. Very impersonal, very robotic sounding way of speaking.

There are no contractions being used, for example. So instead of saying, “we’re bringing you something delicious, that’s going to blow your mind”, instead of speaking like somebody would speak, people write, “We are bringing you something that is going to impress you”, or whatever, whatever, whatever.

It sounds very robotic and very distancing, but they do that because they have seen other people use that kind of language. They’ve seen corporations, use that language, so they feel like they need to do it too.

But the beauty in owning a small, conscious business, or building a brand which offers a very unique, niche kind of service, is that it’s personal.

You can bring your personal touch, and be yourself in your language, in your messaging.

People like that personal touch. So you don’t have to use formal language or fancy words just to make it seem like you’re professional. Approachable is so much more valuable than professional in this kind of field – in a small business conscious business, or a creative field.

Also related to language, people use keywords, hashtags, and terms that they see others use.

They’re like, “Oh, it’s trending? So let me use it.” And it’s not related to what you’re doing at all, or not really appropriate, doesn’t fit it.

On this one website, they’d written “Elevate your taste experience, and your something, something”. All kinds of fancy words being used. And you’d think the description is for some kind of fine dining, or a very gourmet product, except they were using it for some basic salty snack product.

I was like, why? Why do you have to use words like “elevate” for something like this? It just doesn’t go together.

Another is when people use trends like plant-based or vegan just because they see others do it, without even researching exactly what it means to be vegan or to be plant-based.

That’s a pet peeve. That pisses me off big time because me being a vegan, I don’t want wrongfully labelled or advertised products.

But also, there are people who have serious allergies like dairy allergy and stuff, who just don’t read the ingredients. They’ll look at the label, take it at face value and then they consume the products. That’s actually quite dangerous.

So yeah. As I told you, it’s cute and babies do it, not cute when we do it as adults.

These are, of course, just a few examples. But I want you to sit and think about this today.

In your branding, messaging, or even in your day-to-day life, in your creativity…

• Where are you just quietly mimicking things without even realising you’re doing it?
• Doing things a certain way because you watch somebody else do it?
• And where can you change it and make it more original?
• How much of your unique self, your identity, can you add to it?

How can you be yourself as you speak, as you create, as you work?

Instead of trying to be somebody else. Instead of trying to do something just because somebody else has done it that way.

That’s it for today. Thank you so much for listening to The Feel Good Factor. I hope I gave you something deep to think about.

And yes, sign up for my free newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe. I look forward to seeing you inside the tribe.

All right. Talk to you again next week. Take care. Bye.

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and I’m most in my element when I’m teaching, writing, and playing with clay. I believe authenticity and kindness are the keys to world peace. Sign up for myfree newsletterwhere I share conversational emails with stories about Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.“

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