Show your work!

by Austin Kleon

A NEW WAY OF OPERATING

"Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of thinkng" ~ John Cleese

• You don't really find an audience for your work; they find you.

• By generously sharing your ideas and your knowledge, you often gain an audience that they can then leverage when they need it - for fellowship, feedback, or patronage

1. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A GENIUS

• Scenius: a whole scene of people who were supporting each, looking out at each other, looking at each other's work, copying from each other, stealing ideas, and contributing ideas

• With scenius, we can stop asking what others do for us, and start asking what we can do for others

• Be an amateur

• Amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results

• In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities

• Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing

• Amateurs might lack formal training, but they're all lifelong learners, and they make a point of learning in the open so that others can learn from their failures and successes

• You can't find your voice if you don't use

2. THINK PROCESS, NOT PRODUCT

• To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of shaping the artwork.

• The work is all that's happened in the day. It is a process, not a thing

• By putting things out there, consistently, you can form a relationship with your customers. It allows them to see the person behind the products

"No one is going to give a damn about your resume; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers"

3. SHARE SOMETHING SMALL EVERYDAY

• Once a day, after you've done your day's work, go back to the documentation of your work and find one little piece of your process that you can share

"One day at a time. It sounds so simple. It sctually is simple but isn't easy: it requires increadible support and fastidious structuring" ~ Russel Brand

4. OPEN UP YOUR CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

"The reading feeds the writing, which feeds the reaching. 'I'm basically a curator" ~ Jonathan Lethem

• Your influences are all worth sharing because the clue people in to who you are and what do - sometimes even more than your own work

• When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don't let anyone else make you feel bad about it

• Being open and honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things too

"Do what you do best and link the rest" ~ Jeff Jarvis

5. TELL GOOD STORIES

• Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object's subjective value can actually be measured objectively

• If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller

• The most important part of a story is its structure; a good structure is tidy, sturdy and logical

• There's the initial problem, the work done to solve the problem, and the solution

• A good pitch is set up in three acts:

  • the first act is the past - where you've been, what you want, how you came to what you want and what you've done so far to get it

  • the second act is the present - where you are now in your work and how you've worked hard and used up most of your resources.

  • the third act is the future - where you going, and how exactly the person you're pitching can help you get there

6. Teach what you know

"The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundatly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes. ~ Annie Dillard"

• Teaching doesn't mean instant competition

• The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others

7. Don't turn into human spam

• If you want fans, you have to be a fan first.

• To be "interesting" is to be curious and attentive, and practice "the continual projection of the interest"

• Being good at things is the only thing that earns you clout or connections

• If, after hanging out with someone you feel worn out and depleted, that person is a vampire

• As you put yourself and your work out there, you will run in fellow knuckleballers; these are your real peers - the people who share your obsessions, the people who share a similar mission to your own, the people with whom you share a mutual respect.

• When you pin your kind, you get your team

• "It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others" ~ Susan Sontag

• Meeting people online is awesome, but turning them into IRL friends is even better.

8. Learn to take a punch

• How to take punches?

  • relax and breathe

  • strengthen your neck

    • the more criticism you take, the more you realize it can't hurt you

  • Roll with the punches

    • keep moving

  • Protect your vulnerable areas

  • keep your balance

• "The trick is not caring what EVERYBODY thinks of you and just caring what the RIGHT people think of you" ~ Brian Michael Bendis

9. Sell Out

• If people are digging into what you do, they will throw a few bucks your way

• We don't make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies ~ Walt Disney

• Do good work and take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way.

• If an opportunity comes along that will allow you to do more of the kind of work you what to do, say YES

10. Stick Around

• It's very important not to quick prematurely

• "WHAT IS NEXT?"

• Instead of taking a break in-between projects, waiting for feedback, and worrying about what's next, use the end of one project to light up the next one.

• When finished with the current work ask yourself what you missed, what could you have done better, or what you couldn't get to

• Three prime spots to turn off the brain:

  • commute - when travelling write, doodle, read or stare outside

  • exercise - using your body relaxes your mind

  • nature - go to a park

• You can't be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.