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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Austin Kleon
Read between
January 11 - January 11, 2024
Creative work is hard. Life is short and art is long.
“None of us know what will happen. Don’t spend time worrying about it.
The creative life is not linear. It’s not a straight line from point A to point B. It’s more like a loop, or a spiral, in which you keep coming back to a new starting point after every project.
It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring.
The real creative journey is one in which you wake up every day, like Phil, with more work to do.
Rather than restricting your freedom, a routine gives you freedom by protecting you from the ups and downs of life and helping you take advantage of your limited time, energy, and talent. A routine establishes good habits that can lead to your best work.
“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”
When the sun goes down and you look back on the day, go easy on yourself. A little self-forgiveness goes a long way.
Before you go to bed, make a list of anything you did accomplish, and write down a list of what you want to get done tomorrow. Then forget about it. Hit the pillow with a clear mind. Let your subconscious work on stuff while you’re sleeping.
“The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty, and boredom. Those have always been where creative ideas come from.”
Saying “no” to the world can be really hard, but sometimes it’s the only way to say “yes” to your art and your sanity.
Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work.
Doing the verb will take you someplace further and far more interesting.
If you pick the wrong noun to aspire to, you’ll be stuck with the wrong verb, too. When people use the word “creative” as a job title, it not only falsely divides the world into “creatives” and “non-creatives,” but also implies that the work of a “creative” is “being creative.” But being creative is never an end; it is a means to something else. Creativity is just a tool. Creativity can be used to organize your living room, paint a masterpiece, or design a weapon of mass destruction. If you only aspire to be a “creative,” you might simply spend your time signaling that you are one: wearing
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Job titles, if they’re taken too seriously, will make you feel like you need to work in a way that befits the title, not ...
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You can’t wait around for someone to call you an artist before you make art.
If and when you finally get to be the noun—when that coveted job title is bestowed upon you by others—don’t stop doing your verb.
Job titles aren’t really for you, they’re for others. Let other peo...
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Art and the artist both suffer most when the artist gets too heavy, too focused on results.
Don’t get bogged down. Stay light. Play.
We’re now trained to heap praise on our loved ones by using market terminology. The minute anybody shows any talent for anything, we suggest they turn it into a profession.
One of the easiest ways to hate something you love is to turn it into your job: taking the thing that keeps you alive spiritually and turning it into the thing that keeps you alive literally.
When you start making a living from your work, resist the urge to monetize every single bit of your creative practice. Be sure there’s at least a tiny part of you that’s off-limits to the marketplace. Some little piece that you keep for yourself.
A free creative life is not about living within your means, it’s about living below your means.
Money is not the only measurement that can corrupt your creative practice. Digitizing your work and sharing it online means that it is subject to the world of online metrics: website visits, likes, favorites, shares, reblogs, retweets, follower counts, and more.
“Don’t make stuff because you want to make money—it will never make you enough money.
Try it: If you’re bummed out and hating your work, pick somebody special in your life and make something for them.
Making gifts puts us in touch with our gifts.
Really great artists are able to find magic in the mundane.
It is easy to assume that if only you could trade your ordinary life for a new one, all your creative problems would be solved.
You do not need to have an extraordinary life to make extraordinary work. Everything you need to make extraordinary art can be found in your everyday life.
“Let’s slow down, not in pace or wordage but in nerves.”
Your attention is one of the most valuable things you possess, which is why everyone wants to steal it from you. First you must protect it, and then you must point it in the right direction.
Many diarists don’t bother rereading their diaries, but I’ve found that rereading doubles the power of a diary because I’m then able to discover my own patterns, identify what I really care about, and know myself better.
When you pay attention to your life, it not only provides you with the material for your art, it also helps you fall in love with your life.
Great artists help people look at their lives with fresh eyes and a sense of possibility.
Art is supposed to make our lives better.
If making your art is ruining anyone’s life, including your own, it is not worth making.
If making your art is adding net misery to the world, walk away and do something else. Find something else to do with your time, something that makes you and the people around you feel more alive.
“I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.” —Claes Oldenburg
John Cage said that when he was not working he thought he knew something, but when he was working, it was clear that he didn’t know anything.
That’s the only way to keep going and the only way to keep making art: to be open to possibility and allow yourself to be changed.
If you’re having trouble finding people to think with, seek out the dead. They have a lot to say and they are excellent listeners.
