Book Summary: "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon

A fairly short and easy read, yet informative and insightful, "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon is a book that I wish I had only read earlier before deciding to start my website! As a summary, the book discusses why you should share what you are doing or working on, and the positive effects this can bring.  It explains by putting yourself out there, you are opening yourself up to new experiences and opportunities. This blog will discuss what I found the 10 most important messages were from the book, which will hopefully be of use to you.

1. We all have the ability to contribute something

Just because you are not a genius in a particular field or subject doesn't mean you cannot contribute to that area. Kleon mentions the musician Brian Eno and his idea of "scenius" - which is essentially the idea that great ideas are the result of many people contributing to it. It doesn't matter how little you know about a topic, we all can contribute something. And it is often through collaboration that great ideas come to life, it is rarely the case that a single individual did it all. Think about all the great achievements you have seen happen around the world, how many of them were due to the work of one person? None, I presume.

2. Be an amateur

This point refers to the idea of sharing your learning along the way, and how even that can be useful to others and yourself. Often as an amateur, we are able to teach others better than those who are pros in the field, and so our experience and learning journey is valuable. So even if you're starting out with a new project or hobby, by sharing what you are learning as you go along can help fellow amateurs who are interested in similar things.

3. You have to share to be heard

This one may seem obvious if you're sitting in a classroom or in a group. If you don't speak, then no one will know what you have to say. But how can we extend this rule one step further? In a world where communication is becoming increasingly digitalised, we must share our work online. Using the internet is a great way to have a voice and let it be heard. We have seen both good and bad examples of this (a former US President and Twitter being an example of the latter!), but the point is that if your work isn't online, it doesn't exist. And by that I mean it will be a lot harder for people to find out what you have been up to, as they have no way of finding you. Additionally, sharing your work is becoming easier and easier with the development of social media platforms, website builders and blogging sites, meaning you don't need to have any technical knowledge to get out there.

4. Share (and trust!) the process

I really liked the message that Austin Kleon talks about here, relating to artists in particular and sharing their work. In a pre-digital age, an artist would keep their creative processes and work on a painting to themselves, they would only show the final piece to the public at an exhibition or museum. No one would know how the painting was made, it was a bit of a black box. They would see the artwork, but they would never see the art work, all those hours of work that went into it.

However, in today's age, where we can utilise the internet, it is much easier for us to show our audience and the public the process and our own "art work", and it is something that people are becoming more interested in. The process is often as important, if not more, than the product, so take people from on a journey from start to finish. This could be done through writing regular progress updates, taking a picture of your work every so often etc.

5. Think 'document', not 'create'

Right at the beginning, when we would like to share our work, we may feel that we have to share something groundbreaking, new, innovative, something that the world has never seen before, to get any credit. But "Show Your Work" explains that it is more about documenting what you already do. The things you get up to right now is of value to someone out there, and they would benefit from it. It doesn't matter if it's not a novel idea, it's about collating what you have done and presenting it to people in a digestable format.

6. Be consistent

This applies to most things in our lives, but is important especially if you're new to the sharing-your-work-game. Keep to a consistent sharing schedule as much as you can, whatever that time frame may be. It could be every 2 weeks or every day, just as long as you consistently share stuff. Find time to share your work, the phrase "I don't have time" is just an easy excuse we can feed ourselves, don't do it!

7. Build a 'home' for your work on the internet

One of the reasons I started my own personal website to blog rather than use a blogging platform was that I wanted complete control over it. Having my own website gave me a long-term way to store, share and keep my work on the internet. Nowadays with website builders such as Wix, Squarespace and ghost (this is the one I use), it has never been easier to get online. You can shape your website to anything you want, and are not limited by constraints you may face posting on another social media or blogging platform.

8. Share things that genuinely interest you

Don't try to share or write about what you think people want to read. Write about what you are truly interested in, and naturally people who are also interested in that will find you. Being genuine when sharing your work makes it a lot more interesting for the reader to find out what you really like doing. For me, I received a few comments from readers about my half marathon blog, saying that they found it really interesting to read as no one had really shared insights like that before. By being genuine I was able to immediately create better content, so don't fall into peer or societal pressures!

9. Listen and learn from others

While I have focused here on sharing our own work, it is just as important to listen to what others have to share and learn from their experiences. Connect with others who share similar things to you, talk and network to different people, and it's through these interactions (in-person or online) that you will learn. By connecting you are opening yourself up to new opportunities, potential collaborations, new friends, and who knows, even job offers! "Be an open node" as the writer Blake Butler calls it - listen as well as share.

10. Don't worry about the numbers

In a society where success is often measured in quantitative terms, not looking at the number of views, subscribers, likes, comments etc. that you are getting can be tough. But Austin Kleon reminded me that it is more important to keep putting in the work, and the numbers will follow. Stick with sharing your work, you may not receive any kickback at the beginning, but you have to remember it is a long term project. Take your time, keep going and don't quit sharing your work.

I would highly recommend "Show Your Work" for anyone who needs that bit of inspiration or reasoning to put themselves out there. An easy and relatively short read, it conveys it's ideas in a clear way with some great visual aids. I have tried to implement the ideas from this book into this website of mine and when sharing my work. Thanks for reading and I hope to see your work out there soon!