10 takeaways from the book ‘Show Your Work’
10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get It Discovered; is a sequel to Steal Like an Artist, a book, by the same author; Austin Kleon.
Show Your Work gives insight on how to make an audience find your work online. By generously sharing your ideas and knowledge, you can gain an audience to leverage when needed i.e feedback, fellowship or patronage.
Here are the main takeaways from the book:
1. Be a long life learner
Have that burning desire of taking chances, experimenting and following your whims. Mistakes are bound to be made, that’s how you learn.
Pay attention to what others are sharing, and then start to take notes of what they are not sharing. And if you’re unsure on what to talk about, just talk about the things you like.
2. Focus on your process not just your end product
People are interested to see what happens behind the scene. The messiness of the process is what is attractive to other humans.
So next time you go to work on your project; take some photos at different stages of your work, record some tapes, write some ideas on your scrap book and shoot some videos. You may not want to share it at the moment, but it’s worth keeping track of your work.
3. Share a small thing daily
Every day after you have done your work, go back to your documentation, and pick something to share.
You can share influences and inspirations, if you’re at the initial stage of your work.
You can share methods and progress, if you’re in the middle stage of executing your work.
And when the work is completed, you can share the final product and the lessons learned.
However, what’s important before sharing your work is to ask yourself “SO WHAT?” Ask yourself whether what you’re about to share is helpful or entertaining.
4. Share your taste in the work of others
Before you are ready to share your work, you could begin by sharing your taste in the work of others. Like what books you read, where you get your inspiration, what sites you visit and interact, what movies, your heroes, who do you follow online etc. But in sharing these works, you should give proper credit to the creators. You should find the right credit or don’t share.
5. Your words matter
Your audience are humans, so talk and write as personal as it gets. Your personal stories can make the complex more tangible.
Speak to them directly in a simple clear language, and when you write; spell check, proofread and punctuate. And when you talk about yourself; tell the truth and tell it with self-respect and dignity.
6. Become a teacher
You gain more through the repetition of practice. If you learn something, teach it to others. This can be in the form of tutorials, words, pictures and videos.
Sharing what you have learnt doesn’t mean instant competition; people love to hear the secrets.
7. Don’t be a human spam
Become interested in the work of others, spammers are only into themselves.
And stop worrying on how many people follow you online instead worry on the quality of people who follow you.
Above all, do only the work you love.
‘Whatever excite you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it’
-Derek Sivers.
You will then meet your fellow knuckleballers, remember to nurture your relationships i.e sing their praises to the world, collaborate with them and show your work to them before you show anyone else.
8. Be ready for the best and the worst
When you put out your work, you no longer have control on people’s reactions.
Some people will criticize your work and others will provoke you with hateful, aggressive or upsetting talk. Learn to take these punches by practicing meditation, ignoring feedback from people who don’t care what you do and use block/delete buttons often.
9. Sell out
Don’t be afraid to charge for your work; just put on a fair price. You can also ask for donations i.e “Like this? Buy me coffee” button on your website.
Another option is asking your fans to support you by buying things you sell. And if an opportunity comes, that allows you to do more of the kind of work you want, say yes!
10. Don’t quit
Keep going; whether you have won big or lost big, you still have to face the question “What’s next?”
But then just to make sure you don’t burn out and you keep generating ideas, take regular sabbaticals (breaks where you can walk away from your work). You can spend some time with nature, you can exercise and practice other hobbies.
And above all, don’t be content with mastery, push yourself to become a student again.
I hope you gained something!
