Author: Austin Kleon My highlights: [[Show Your Work!]] ## The premise _Show Your Work_'s premise is that sharing what you're working on is one of the best things you can do to fast-track both your learning and your career. Showing others your work is a more accurate and honest representation of your capabilities than a CV is. ![[Show Your Work!#^02d622]] ## Main points ### [[Scenius]] instead of genius Kleon points out that the problem with genius is that it implies brilliance in isolation, when the reality is that good work builds off of the existing body of work. [[Creativity#Creativity doesn't exist in a vacuum|Brilliance doesn't exist in a vacuum]]; it is a product of intentional interaction with others in the field. He calls this situation of sharing and learning _scenius_. #### [[Steal like an artist]] from your scenius All good artists "steal"; that is, they build upon the ideas of others. This process requires content consumption and collaboration by its very nature. Picking the very best parts of someone's work and expanding upon it _is_ a worthy enough and valuable enough goal in itself. Collaboration is necessary for creativity. One of the best ways to learn is to find a good scenius, because [[The quality of the conclusion relies on the quality of the data.]] ### Why share "If your work isn't online, it doesn't exist." Work that isn't shared is limited in usefulness if it can't be proven. Sharing work online improves the chances of finding scenius, of getting better jobs in the future, and of learning itself. #### Sharing is not self-promotion Sharing is not self-promotion; it is an end in itself because [[Writing does not help us learn - it IS how we learn.]] Similarly, expressing what we have learned solidifies our knowledge and our own identities. We ourselves learn what kind of person we are through the [[Learning Exhaust]] we've created. In fact, Kleon says that when the more we share, the more shame we may feel about where we were previously. This is normal, and it's a good sign-- if we did not feel embarrassed by where we were, then we haven't moved and haven't learned anything. In a way, sharing combats [[Impostor Syndrome]]. You can't be an impostor if you're open about how much you don't know. #### We're all amateurs anyway Having a [[Growth mindset|Growth Mindset]] is not just desirable; it's necessary in a world like ours where ideas are shared freely and learning can occur at an unprecendented pace. Recognizing that none of us is an "expert" may be helpful in getting over [[Impostor Syndrome]]. ### What to share #### [[Learning in public]] While Kleon never mentions it directly, he promotes learning in public, even when (and especially when) you are new at something. He says that those who are not afraid to make mistakes in public are the most likely to learn the fastest, because they get immediate feedback. #### [[Working with the garage door up]] Kleon agrees with [[Gary Vaynerchuk]]'s motto, [[Document, don't create]]. Sharing work, for him, does not necessarily mean writing blog posts or creating anything new; it could be simply working with the garage door up and letting others see your process or your unfinished products. There is value in sharing something yet unpolished. #### [[Daily dispatch]] It's not enough to share work; we should also share _frequently_. Kleon recommends publishing a daily feed of what we're doing, and argues that such a daily dispatch is a better indication to others of what our strengths are than a CV, which describes what we've done in the past. A daily dispatch could be a blog post, tweet, video, or anything else. #### [[Library vs feed|stock vs flow]] Kleon distinguishes between "flow" and "stock". Flow is information that is raw and shared in a daily dispatch. Stock is [[Evergreen Notes|evergreen]] content that has already been processed and is in a more polished format. Both are necessary, but flow is more important than stock. Stock can build over time. Finding the balance between flow and stock is the difficult part. Kleon's description of flow vs stock is very much like the [[Zettelkasten]] methodology, where fleeting notes become evergreen notes-- except that it tackles the output side, rather than the input side. ### How to share Because there is so much weight placed in sharing our work, communication skills become even more important. We should always share with our audience in mind, even if that's ourselves. #### Be careful how much you share [[Pomodoro method]] It can be easy to get caught up in sharing work; don't forget to actually do the work as well. Kleon is an advocate of [[The ability to do deep work is the strongest predictor of success.|Deep Work]], even if he probably wouldn't ascribe to Allen's ascetic digital isolation in the long term. #### The ugly side of sharing Brace yourself for trolls. Being in public means that you'll also get nasty comments. Combat the nastiness by getting used to it-- put out even more content. Keep making yourself vulnerable, and you'll find more people who connect with you than those who want to bring you down. At the same time, Kleon recommends deleting nasty comments. Prune with impunity, and then move on. #### Plan to make money [[The starving artist stereotype can be extremely harmful]]. There's nothing dirty about making money; the smart artist learns how to make money for themselves so that they can keep making things. #### Practical tips Collect email addresses of people who are interested in your work, even if you aren't selling anything right now. Engage with them, but not to the point where you're finding it difficult to do your work. Holding [[Office Hours]] once a week is a good way to engage with the community while not selling your soul to the email gods. ## Citation ``` [^kleon]: Kleon, A. (2014). _Show your work!: 10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered_. Adams Media. [[Show Your Work!|Highlights]] and [[Show Your Work|literature notes]]. ```