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- Show your work💼
As I finish reading Austin Kleon´s book Show Your Work, I find there´s a lot going through my mind.
Austin makes some incredible points regarding as to why and how you should share something you´re passionate about.
For an easier and understandable read, I´ll split my main takeaways into several bullet points:
How afraid we are
I find it surprising yet kinda depressing how quickly we get discouraged from doing something we’re passionate about by tiny as other people’s opinion.
Were probably gonna be death in a couple of decades, and still we waste time like we had enough of it already and we wait right until there’s nothign else left to do and no life left to live.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.
How hard it is to embrace the amateur spirit
Our egos can be so detrimental that they can ultimately change the life we live and denies us of the life we wish, just because we´re afraid of being seen as amateurs.
How fragile are we that we fear being seen as a beginner when in reality, that´s all we are.
By letting go of our egos and sharing our process, we allow for the possibility of people having an ongoing connection with us and our work, which helps us move more of our product.
You don´t have to be a genius
I think we´re too quick to set the bar way too high for ourselves and way too low for others.
When it comes acknowledging our skills we´re always too hard on ourselves and don´t give the credit we deserve.
Why can´t we see in us what others can?
Online, everyone - the artist and the curator, the master and the apprentice, the expert and the amateur - has the ability to contribute something
Share something every day
It’s amazing what we can achieve by doing a little somthing every single day.
We’re too blind to see the long term effect of things. Unfortunately our brains may be a little too dumb to see anything past a single day planning, but it’s the little changes throughout long periods of time that ultimately create massive results.
One day at a time. It sounds so simple. It actually is simple, but it isn’t easy: It requires incredible support and fastidious structuring.
Stick around
As in life, if we truly want to be able to achieve something, we must endure, regardless of the problems we will eventually face.
Happiness doesn’t last forever and hard times will always be right around the corner, but to be able to persevere, wemust show up everyday.
Work is never finished, only abandoned.
This is truly one incredible book and I’ll be sure to re-visit it anytime soon.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t found the way or motivation to share something they’re passionate about.
This book will truly change the way you think about your work and hopefully get you started on doing so.