Before we're ready to take the leap of sharing our own work with the world, we can share our tastes in the work of others."

The chapters point out 10 main thoughts, it is beautifully written, easy to follow, and with some humor in it, while also keeping the content real and useful. This is an idea that will help to identify and wipe out predators from your life so that you become more productive in it. If you’re only pointing to your own stuff, you’re doing it wrong. If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be noticed, you have to notice. Shut up and listen once in a while. Be thoughtful. Be considerate. I'm pretty much going to spend this review telling you everything wrong this book and the whole genre. Because if ever there's a book that embodies the genre Show Your Work is it. Show Your Work is a personal declaration on how to complete any type of creative work. If you do anything that involves personal expression – which is pretty much everything – Kleon's perspective on performing the career you love will motivate you. Anyone involved in the creative process should read this book.

The Five Big Ideas

Show Your Work! is about why generosity trumps genius. It’s about getting findable , about using the network instead of wasting time “networking.” It’s not self-promotion, it’s self-discovery―let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples, Show Your Work! offers ten transformative rules for being open, generous, brave, productive. Kleon started his career in a public library in Cleveland, Ohio. While working in a library, Kleon became a blogger and posted his poems. Kleon also taught library users how to use computers. [10] Kleon taught himself HTML and CSS. The act of sharing is one of generosity—you’re putting something out there because you think it might be helpful or entertaining to someone on the other side of the screen.” Become a documentarian of what you do – As Gary Vaynerchuk says, “document, don’t create”. Share screenshots as you’re going along. Take photos of your process. Write down your thoughts in a notebook. Whether you share it or not, documenting your process has its own rewards. 3. Share something small everyday Even if you don’t have the slightest interest in creativity, entrepreneurship or putting yourself out there in any capacity whatsoever, you should still read this because it’ll open up neural pathways and possibilities that you never knew existed.

Almost all of the people Austin looks up to and tries to steal from today, regardless of their profession, have built sharing into their routine. Completed a project: show the final product, share scraps from the cutting-room floor, or write about what you learned Pay it forward – When you have success, help people who reach out to you. Help people who helped you get where you are. When you teach and share your work with others, you’ll get an education in return. People will see your stuff, connect with it, and reach out to you with recommendations and their own thoughts. This is magic. 7. Don’t turn into human spam The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes. -Annie DillardIt also takes less than 30 minutes to read, so you’ve got no reason not to. ☘️ How the Book Changed Me These are a few sections of the book that stood out to me, but I think all the 10 ideas Austin shares in this book are spot on. If you have something so sensitive or too close to you that any criticism would be debilitating, then keep it hidden. I like this chapter and Austin’s idea that you want hearts not eyeballs, in other words don’t waste time worrying about getting more followers or likes, just focus on being someone worth following.

The author mentions at one point that the origin of this volume is in a series of tweets. It shows. If you’re familiar with my work, you will know that i love to share the process of what I did, but most importantly how I arrived at the solution, and why I did what I did.

About the book

if you spend your life avoiding vulnerability, you and your work will never truly connect with other people Imagine if your next boss didn't have to read your résumé because he already reads your blog. Imagine being a student and getting your first gig based on a school project you posted online. Imagine losing your job but having a social network of people familiar with your work and ready to help you find a new one. Imagine turning a side project or a hobby into your profession because you had a following that could support you. Film critic Theodore Sturgeon said that “90% of everything is crap”. The same goes for your work. Unfortunately, while you’re making your art, you don’t know which of it is going to be good and which is going to be crap. So rather than being a perfectionist, rather than trying to improve your strike rate so that only 80% of your work is crap, focus on growing the whole pie itself. Rather than just trying to focus on the 10% of stuff that’s good and trying to make it as good as possible, just make MORE and by default you will end up with more good stuff. It sounds counterintuitive, but if you want to make things that are good, you should focus on quantity not quality. Just do the work that’s in front of you, and when it’s finished, ask yourself what you missed, what you could’ve done better, or what you couldn’t get to, and jump right into the next project. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. We’re all busy, but we all get 24 hours a day. People often ask me, “How do you find the time?” And I answer, “I look for it.” You might have to miss an episode of your favorite TV show, you might have to miss an hour of sleep, but you can find the time if you look for it. 4. Open up your cabinet of curiosities.

In ten tight chapters, I lay out ways to think about your work as a never-ending process, how to build an audience by sharing that process, and how to deal with the ups and downs of putting yourself and your work out in the world:Having just finished Austin Kleon's previous book Steal Like an Artist, which I liked but didn't LOVE... I didn't expect anything different here. I mean, the book's exactly the same size and shape, the same layout, similar in approach. But this one hit me right between the eyes half a dozen times over. The key takeaway from this chapter is you’re not worth following unless there is something to follow. If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community. If you’re only pointing to your own stuff online, you’re doing it wrong. You have to be a connector. The writer Blake Butler calls this being an open node. If you want to get, you have to give. If you want to be noticed, you have to notice. Shut up and listen once in a while. Be thoughtful. Be considerate. Don’t turn into human spam. Be an open node. Grab a copy of the book here: https://www.bookdepository.com/Show-Your-Work-Austin-Kleon/9780761178972/?a_aid=adamsbooks Show Your Work