My Thoughts on Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon 💭

What’s the key message?

If you want to build an audience, be generous and put your work out there. Focus on the work and share your learning process. Don’t care for the trolls.

What resonated with me?

One of my good friends was recently diagnosed with late stage cancer. Thereby, a part of this book resonated with me — All external expectations, pride, and fear of embarrassment or failure fall away in the face of death (based on a quote from Steve Jobs). The key idea is that taking a step back and thinking about the inevitable allows one to always prioritize on what matters the most. Be that friends, family, or the work you love. This strategy can improve your life and the lives of the ones you care about. You never know when they or you might go.

Who should read it?

If you would like to build an audience, this is the book to check out. I think it’s great for people fresh into college or early in their careers. The book is short and simple; you can probably read it in a day.

Any other thoughts?

The book highlights many mental traps that people fall into. It has plenty gems of wisdom that simply put things into perspective. It is impressive how concisely Austin Kleon communicates.

*spoilers coming up; avoid if you want to actually read the book*

What are some of my favorite parts from the book?

• Like Steve Martin said, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”
• You don’t find an audience for your work, your audience will find you.
• Don’t hoard your work. Be open and generous. Put your work out there. This includes what you’re learning and your ideas.
• Think about what you want to learn and make a commitment to learn it in front of others.
• Wear your amateurism on your sleeve. Share what you love. Others will find you.
• You don’t find your voice. You just use it. It’s built into you. Talk about the things you love.
• The process sometimes matters more than the product. Take advantage of the internet and share the process.
• Go out and make stuff. Don’t wait for permission or instruction to do so. Become your own documentation.
• Don’t worry about making every post perfect. Like Sturgeon said 90 percent of everything is crap. Be open and share the imperfect or unfinished.
• Do the “So What" test before sharing. Go with your gut. Maybe wait 24 hours to look at it a fresh mind.
• Turn your flow into stock. Tweets can become blog posts. Blog posts can become book chapters. And so on.
• Get some turf on the internet. Buy your domain name.
• Our tastes or influences make us who we are. Take a baby step to sharing your work. Share what you enjoy.
• Don’t let others feel bad about what you genuinely enjoy. Being open about the things you enjoy is the best way to connect with others who like the same things.
• Always include attributions. They allow you to give a shout out and others to track your influencers.
• Stories are drivers of emotional value. Your work often doesn’t speak for itself. Humans want to know where things come from.
• Personal stories allow people to make associations. Humans want to connect. Always keep your audience in mind. Study great stories and find your own.
• Keep bios short and sweet. How about a two sentence explanation instead. Don’t get cute. Don’t brag. State facts.
• Minute you learn something, teach it to others.
• Share your reading lists.
• Avoid human spam and turning into human spam. Shut up and listen.
• Want fans? Be a fan first. Focus on the quality of people who follow you, not the quantity. Be interesting first by being interested (engaged).
• Don’t be obsessed with networking, focus on being good at things. It you earn you connections.
• Avoid doing things that drain you. Avoid vampires.
• Put yourself out there. Find you fellow knuckleballers.
• Learn to take punches. It goes with putting your work out there. Accept whatever comes. Care about feedback from people you care about. Don’t care about trolls.
• Keep a mailing list.
• Finite amount of time. Some point you have to switch from saying yes to no.
• Throw out your old work and make room for new work. The lessons you learned stay with you.
• Document your process.