Stay on the Bus until you discover your voice: The Helsinki Bus Station Theory
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory: The proven path to doing unique, meaningful work and finally discovering your original voice.
Let me introduce to you the fascinating theory of the Helsinki Bus Station.
Welcome to the Helsinki Bus Station. Some two dozen platforms are laid out in a square at the heart of the city. The bus numbers leaving from the platform are numbered as follows: 21, 71, 58, 33, and 19. Each bus takes the same route out of the city for at least a kilometer, stopping at bus stop intervals along the way.
Metaphorically speaking, these bus lines are similar to building your brand and finding your own unique voice on social media. In this sense, anyone beginning to find their own unique voice and brand will often find themselves arriving at "Stations" that other creative artists have reached before them.
Your first phase of being visible online might seem frustrating as you might think everything you are doing now has already done by other experts in your field. You might think that your voice and brand kind of resembles other entrepreneurs in your field.
This is the point when it is really tempting to give up. With all the competition for bus seats and nowhere to go but places other competitors/experts have already been, why stay on the bus.
You are "this" close to giving up and getting off the bus.
What to do?
It's simple. Stay on the bus. Stay on the damn bus. Because if you do, you will begin to see the difference.
The buses that move out of Helsinki stay on the same line, but only for a while, maybe a kilometer or two. They then begin to separate, each number heading off to its own unique destination. Bus 33 suddenly goes north. Bus 19 southeast.
A little way farther on, like Helsinki’s bus routes, diverge, plunging off on unpredictable journeys to very different destinations. That’s when the creative find a unique “vision”, or – the satisfying sense that he or she is doing their own thing.
It's this "separation" and "turn" that makes all the difference. If you ride the creative bus long enough - as the metaphor goes- it takes you somewhere unique.
When you are patient enough to stay on the bus,
You give yourself time to stick to the process, do the re-work, and hone your perspective on the way.
This is when you have gone through the process of producing something unique and inspiring.
You develop your own creative spin on how you want to show up online.
It's only by staying on board that your creativity and unique voice will reveal themselves. For that to happen, you have to show up enough times and take multiple bus routes.
After crossing that initial bus ride, you will begin to see the difference in, the style of content you really enjoy sharing, you will also begin to hone your unique way of storytelling. This will be the time for your breakthrough. Suddenly your work starts getting noticed and you start showing up differently and in a way that is aligned with who you really are.
In a few years, as your work starts getting visibility, the critics and your audience will become very intrigued and will notice your unique voice and how you do things differently.
So, to sum everything up: if your voice and brand feel too much like everyone else’s, stay on the bus until it starts hitting stops you haven’t seen before. Get off the bus if it isn’t going to take you where you want to go—and if the bus route doesn’t work with your life, find a car and start driving at a speed that works for you.
Your social media voice is always going to be a work in progress just like you are.
Stay on the "BUS". You will find your stop. You will find your voice.