When is recycling not a good thing? When it comes to your own creativity, that’s when. To reuse your ideas is not as bad as plagiarism (presenting the work of others as your own), but it’s still “stealing from yourself.” The problem is that most people do it unconsciously. It’s just part of human nature. Behavior scientists tell us that if you write the sentence “Ringo gave George the octopus,” you’re more likely to say “Paul gave John the songwriting credit” instead of the equivalent “Paul gave the songwriting credit to John.” This seemingly harmless example should terrify anyone who composes melodies and writes lyrics, or who improvises solos, because it illustrates how you can’t escape yourself to create something wholly original. Psychologists even have a name for it: “structural priming.”