REPURPOSE

We have all heard of the 3R of Environmental care, which are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Now they have added 2 more R’s which are Refuse and Repurpose. So how is repurpose different from the others.

The dictionary definition of Repurpose says, “to find a new use for an idea, product, or building.” So, when we use the same things for an alternative purpose, we can call it repurposing. I am sure many of you would have seen your mom creatively using the leftovers of the food available in the refrigerator, to create a new nameless dish. (Idli Uppuma?) That can be classic example of Repurposing.                                                                                   

However, the context of Repurpose, I want to share through this article, is about the original content that we create ( not ChatGPT content).  I would like to share some examples, of how I have repurposed content in the past few years, which has helped me save time and effort, at the same time enhanced the reach.

My first experiment with repurposing started way back in 2016 when I published my book “Transformational Thoughts”

I have been writing a regular article for my in-house monthly magazine, PALM PLUS, under the heading, Inside Out, through which I have been sharing my thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Over the course of time, I realized that I had written over 100 such articles. This made me come up with the idea to compile all these articles and publish them in the form of a book. This simple idea made me the author of the book, “Transformational Thoughts”. I also made it a blog and posted it on my social media page, as “Transformational Tuesdays”.

I have been sending out a positive quote daily by WhatsApp to several of my contacts. When I reached about 400 quotes that I had created, I found an opportunity to publish them in the form of a daily calendar.  I got it designed and printed along with some beautiful Kolam and gave it as a return gift, at my son’s wedding reception.

 I am a part of a book review group, called “Booksights” which meets once a month to review a particular book. I volunteered to moderate a discussion, based on the book, I was reading. The content of the book was quite interesting, so I made it into a one-hour training programme and presented it to a different audience. I also had the opportunity to use this as a short speech on a few occasions.

The article titled WOW, which you can find in this magazine is repurposed from a series of podcasts, I did during COVID times, under the title WOW Wednesday.

These are just a few of the many ways, I have repurposed content.

Content creation is a time-consuming job that takes a lot of effort and work..  So, isn’t it wise to use our content for a variety of things? A new age quote goes, “Ideas are the currency of the new economy.” If ideas are so valuable, shouldn’t we make the best use of them? Shouldn’t we be able to capitalize on it and reap rich dividends?

One of the early examples of repurposing, I am able to think of is Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of highly effective people”. While most of us would have read it as a book, it was also sold as signature training programme, train-the-trainer programme, audio podcasts, and videos. This is an interesting business model formula to get rich and popular fast.

I see this business model catching up, in other fields too, like the publishing and entertainment industry. Translating a book or a movie in another language is a great example of repurposing too. The content remains the same, but if we could just take the effort to get it translated in different languages, we will be able to reach a wider range of audience.

In the entertainment industry, movies are voice dubbed in another language or a simple sub-title, makes it possible for the movie to find a global audience. Korean and Japanese movies have become so popular in India, and same goes with Tamil movies in Japan. Same with books. A lot of authors are famous worldwide, because their work has been translated and made available in different languages. Paul Coelho’s book, “The Alchemist” has been translated into 88 languages and have been published in over 170 countries, making it a record holder of the most translated book, in the world.

Repurposing is a wonderful idea. Whatever you create, will never go a waste if you can repurpose it, at the right occasion. It is a technique all of us need to learn and use, to enhance our personal image.

     D. Senthil Kannan,

     CEO, PALMS Training & Consulting (P) Ltd., Tuticorin.

     Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

     Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com