Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered (Austin Kleon)

by Austin Kleon

Imagine if your next boss didn’t have to read your résumé because he already reads your blog. Imagine being a student and getting your first gig based on a school project you posted online. Imagine losing your job but having a social network of people familiar with your work and ready to help you find a new one. Imagine turning a side project or a hobby into your profession because you had a following that could support you.

Or imagine something simpler and just as satisfying: spending the majority of your time, energy, and attention practicing a craft, learning a trade, or running a business, while also allowing for the possibility that your work might attract a group of people who share your interests. All you have to do is show your work.

creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the result of a mind connected to other minds.

Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.

Raw enthusiasm is contagious.

The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.

Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.

I realize that the only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

“No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers.”

Being open and honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things, too.

Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them. The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel and what they understand about your work affects how they value it.

If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller. You need to know what a good story is and how to tell one.

“When people realize they’re being listened to, they tell you things.” —Richard Ford

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.

Because, of course, the worst troll is the one that lives in your head.

“If someone took a dump in your living room, you wouldn’t let it sit there, would you?” Nasty comments are the same—they should be scooped up and thrown in the trash.

You can’t count on success; you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you.

“You gotta play till the ninth inning, man.”

You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again. “Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough,” writes author Alain de Botton.