Show Your Work! Summary

We’re all terrified of being revealed as amateurs, but in fact, today it is the amateur who has the advantage over the professional.

Because they have little to lose, amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results.

The world is changing at such a rapid rate that it’s turning us all into amateurs.

Amateurs might lack formal training, but they’re all lifelong learners, and they make a point of learning in the open, so that others can learn from their failures and successes.

Become a documentarian of what you do. Start a work journal: Write your thoughts down in a notebook, or speak them into an audio recorder. Keep a scrapbook. Take a lot of photographs of your work at different stages in your process. Shoot video of you working.

documenting and recording your process as you go along has its own rewards: You’ll start to see the work you’re doing more clearly and feel like you’re making progress. And when you’re ready to share, you’ll have a surplus of material to choose from.

Because as an Amateur,

• There is very little to lose.
• You can try anything new, a new way, a new sort of art/sub-art.
• You can follow your whims and can change your mind anywhere.

The world is changing so rapidly that it is turning all of us (including professionals) into AMATEURS.

You (as an artist) always need to create something, because the stupidest possible creative art is still a creative art.

Doing or contributing something is always better than contributing nothing.

• You can't find your voice if you don't use it.
• Today, if your work is not ONLINE, it doesn't exist.
• Share your work or even some ongoing process from it with the world to get noticed.

OBITUARIES are not about death, they are about life. Read 1 daily and get inspired about what should or should not be written on yours.

“Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous in public. They’re in love, so they don’t hesitate to do work that others think of as silly or just plain stupid.” - Austin Kleon

“Forget about decades, forget about years, and forget about months. Focus on days.” - Austin Kleon

Kleon starts by debunking the myth that you need to be a genius to share your work. He emphasizes that everyone has something valuable to contribute. By documenting and sharing your creative process, you can inspire and connect with others. The key is to focus on the process, not just the finished product.

Kleon encourages creators to share their journey rather than just the final result. This approach helps build a narrative around your work, making it more relatable and engaging for your audience. By being transparent about your process, you invite others to learn and grow with you, fostering a sense of community.

Amateurs Loves the Thing they do and they have nothing to lose. No one is an expert in today's growing era. 

It takes time for things to grow. Think about Process and Document everything as you do. Share Documentations with your audience. They will relate with struggles behind the product.

Small thinks shared everyday will create large documentations of things you did. While Sharing do a "So What?" Test Internet Never Forgets.

1. You don't need to be an expert to share your work. 
2. Become a documentarian of what you do.
3. Take people behind the scenes.

1. Attract an audience with similar interests for fellowship, feedback, and patronage.
2. Find your scenius — a group of like-minded people supporting each other and contributing ideas
3. Take advantage of the network instead of wasting time "networking".

Best selling author Austin Kleon threw light on importance of documenting work and putting it out into the colossal land of Internet.

One of the biggest things holding back anyone to share their work in public is the insecurity of being less genius than fellow people.

But what if we try to stop worrying about how genius or intelligent we are and how our work will impact our figure in society,rather find a scenius(intelligence or intellectual power of group of individuals) and thinking to contribute our part of the work and ideation to it.

There are numerous ways of finding a scenius,be it a club or a Twitter list or a social grp .

Observe the scenius ,what they have shared,what they haven't.

Be an amateur,do it for love.

Scenius are a group of creative individuals – artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers – who make up an "ecology of talent". Pay attention to what others are sharing, and then start taking note of what they're not sharing. Be on the lookout for voids that you can fill with your own efforts, no matter how bad they are at first.

Audiences not only want to stumble across great work but they too long to be creative and be part of the creative process. [if book is the product then blogs could be the process]

Show your work is a guidebook for creative people to share their work and connect with others. The book emphasizes the importance of sharing and networking to build an audience and grow creatively.

Instead of only sharing finished work, Kleon encourages artists to show their work in progress. This can help build a community and provide insight into the creative process.

• Show the designs you are building and how you ended up building them

With the rise of social media, it's easier than ever to connect with others and share your work online. Kleon suggests using social media, blogs, and other platforms to showcase your creativity.