There is nothing new in these words.

Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy.

I enjoy reading everyone's thoughts on the topics I post about every day; one reader pointed out last week that she hasn't found anything new in my writing and, consequently, doesn't like it.

What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun, which is one of my favourite passages from Ecclesiastes (1:9), sprang to mind as I read this.

What a fitting description: there is nothing novel in these words, nothing you haven't read before, and even less when it comes to articles in the personal development arena, all of which seem to be identical to what we've already read.

Let me explain: I'll use the book "Atomic Habits" as an illustration.

Even though James Clear's book has been Amazon's best-seller for the past ten years, it mostly repeats the same ideas in a new way. Elements discussed in Atomic Habits may be found in Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems” Famously quoted by James in Atomic Habit is him paraphrasing the greek philosopher Archililochus who remarked that "We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training ".

If you take any Mark Manson book and compare it to a Gary John Bishop book, you might start to wonder if the two authors spent months holed up together writing.

I could continue with many examples, but to summarize it all, Mark Twain said that "there is no such thing as an original idea."

I also will not have anything new to give daily, and you will realise that what is important is not the acquisition of new knowledge but rather the cultivation of fresh views. Even if you are forced to listen to the same message over and over again, the fact that you are still interested in it is sufficient evidence that you have a hunger for it and may be interested in investigating alternative perspectives.

So, what makes James Clear or any of your favourite teachers stand out from the crowd? I believe that it is their narrative and the manner in which they teach.

Those are often distinct, and as long as the earth continues to turn, there won't be anything new that can be discovered under the sun.