In 2012, artist and writer Austin Kleon gave us Steal Like an Artist. Now he brings us Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, described as “a book for people who hate the very idea of self-promotion.” He stopped by Seattle’s Town Hall on his book release tour and charmed us all with his frankness, humor, and humility. His sense of play and enthusiasm for life is contagious. He couldn’t resist playing the piano that happened to be in the room, and I couldn’t resist smiling. His book is for anybody doing any kind of work that they want to get noticed.

Austin started the talk by quoting Christopher Hitchens about how publishing a book is like a free education.

It brings you into contact with the people whose opinions you should have canvassed before you ever pressed pen to paper. They write to you. They telephone you. They come to your bookstore events and give you things to read that you should have read already… A free education that goes on for a lifetime. 

So, if you are thinking about writing a book, there’s another PRO to add to the list—free education, community, and a way to find your people.

The very first chapter is titled “You Don’t Have to Be a Genius.” He speaks of the myth behind the lone geniuses we idolize. When in reality, the Mozarts, Einstiens, Mondrians of the world had a creative community supporting and inspiring their work.

There’s a healthier way of thinking about creativity that Brian Eno refers to as “scenius.” Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of people of creative individuals—artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers—who make up an “ecology of talent.”

Scenius doesn’t take away from the achievements of those great individuals; it just acknowledges that good work isn’t created in a vacuum, and that creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the result of a mind connected to other minds.

Your primary focus should always be on the the work; focus on your business, your craft, your trade. If you share a little bit each day it makes it possible that your work might attract a group of people who share your interests. You will find your own scencius. All you have to do is show your work. Your website is your self-invention machine. Fill it with your work, and your ideas, the stuff you care about. And stick with it.

One of my favorite parts of the book, is when he considers WHY we share, he writes:

The act of sharing is one of generosity—you’re putting something out there because you think it might be helpful or entertaining to someone on the other side of the screen. 

He speaks to the benefits of being an amateur, and the original meaning of the word amateur in French:

We’re all terrified of being revealed as amateurs, but in fact today it is the amateur—the enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love (in French, the word means “lover”) regardless, of the potential for fame, money, or career—who often has the advantage over the professional. Because they have little to lose, amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results. 

Amateurs [are] just regular people who get obsessed by something and spend a ton of time thinking out loud about it. 

The world is changing at such a rapid rate that it’s turning us all into amateurs. Even for professionals, the best way to flourish is to retain an amateur’s spirit and embrace uncertainty and the unknown. 

Forget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve. Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.

Teach what you know. What can you share that would be helpful to others? What questions are you constantly answering? What cringe-worthy mistakes do you see everyday? Why not teach people about what you know? Share your knowledge. Speak about your work, your process. Kleon says think process not product, and his Tumblr practices what Show Your Work! preaches.

If you’re not telling the world about your work, who will?

So many times I’ve thought: If the work is good, it will speak for itself. This is largely untrue. Our work does not speak for itself. How we speak about our work has a huge influence on how people understand and value our work. We all have experienced the devalue of our work. If you haven’t, you’re lucky. Recently, I received an email that said “Shouldn’t take more than 5 min, just need someone who has photoshop.” Not even someone who “knows” Photoshop, simply someone who “has” it on their computer. Yes, this message got under my skin, but it told be me that I have failed to speak about our design work in a way that helps people understand and value good design. I need to do better. No matter what we do, we are all educators. It is our job to educate people on what we do, how we do it, and why it matters.

The rest of Show Your Work! goes on to consider; how reading obituaries can make you want to live; how to avoid being human spam; why we should always credit our sources; how a life of creativity is all about change; and why we should continually push ourselves to learn, even if that means we have to ask for help along the way.

Thank you Austin Kleon for the re-minder to retain an amateur’s spirit and to embrace uncertainty. If you like this book you may also enjoy Steal Like and Artist, and his very first book with his blackout poetry titled Newspaper Blackout.

“Only by taking charge of your day-to-day can you truly make an impact in what matters most to you. I urge you to build a better routine by stepping outside of it, find your focus by rising above the constant cacophony, and sharpen your creative prowess by analyzing what really matters most when it comes to making your ideas happen.”
—Scott Belsky, Founder of Behance

Are you feeling what the Europeans call burnout? Finding yourself not getting enough accomplished each day? Or is your to-do list out of control? Reading this book will help you gain some perspective. It encourages you to take a step back and evaluate your productivity, your mindfulness, and delivers tips on how to work smarter.

The book, Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series), is a compilation of essays from the rock stars of creativity—who are  just people who have learned how to work hard towards achieving their dreams. Each essay offers useful insights. They are not terribly in-depth, but a great quick read to help you ponder your own system of productivity. Some may strike you more than others. We are all different. We all need different strategies to bring about the best versions of ourselves. Seth Godin’s essay says it is simple:

The strategy is simple, I think. The strategy is to have a practice, and what it means to have a practice is to regularly and reliably do the work in a habitual way.

The notion that I do my work here, now, like this, even when I do not feel like it, and especially when I do not feel like it, is very important. Because lots and lots of people are creative when they feel like it, but you are only going to become a professional if you do it when you don’t feel like it. And that emotional waiver is why this is your work and not your hobby.

The book is directed at creative types. But doesn’t all work contain some need for creativity? The insights in Manage Your Day-To-Day are applicable to anyone who works regularly, especially those of us who work at a desk or a computer. I think people working in the arts have a harder time with routine. I know I have always struggled with keeping a consistent schedule, which is something I have been striving for since our return from Europe. The insights in this book give me even more reasons and inspiration to be more structured with my time.

As adults—especially as entrepreneurs, business owners, and freelancers—we have complete control over how we choose to manage our time. Instead of embracing this control we use our time by responding and reacting to whatever comes our way: emails, client emergencies, facebook alerts, text messages, and whatever else demands our attention. The idea behind this book is to give the reader a toolkit for tackling the challenges of living in a work-world that is always on. We are always connected. Let’s all learn to work proactively, and focus our time on what really matters to us. Don’t let the little things suck away your potential to do big things.

One of the book’s most compelling points comes from Gretchen Rubin (author of The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun) who states that frequency is the secret to creative accomplishments. Here are some excerpts from her essay titled “Harnessing the Power of Frequency:”

We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period, and underestimate what we can do over a long period, provided we work slowly and consistently. Anthony Trollope, the nineteenth-century writer who managed to be a prolific novelist while also revolutionizing the British postal system, observed, “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules.” Over the long run, the unglamorous habit of frequency fosters both productivity and creativity.

When you work regularly, inspiration strikes regularly.

Step by step, you make your way forward. That’s why practices such as daily writing exercises or keeping a daily blog can be so helpful. You see yourself do the work, which shows you that you can do the work. Progress is reassuring and inspiring; panic and then despair set in when you find yourself getting nothing done day after day. One of the painful ironies of work life is that the anxiety of procrastination often makes people even less likely to buckle down in the future.

I have never thought about it that way, but how true. Just as work breeds more work, procrastination breeds more procrastination.

The book also speaks to the importance of unplugging, allowing time for walks and to daydream, to reconnect with nature, to get a good nights sleep, and to set time aside to make our own projects that are not client-driven. All of this is important in attaining a healthy life-work balance.

It is a beautiful book, clean design with large quotes inserted between each essay. An inspiring book to just flip through. The essays are short enough to finish one or two whenever you need a break. I know another distraction right? But it can be good to switch tasks, to let your mind ponder your current work challenges quietly in the background.

What tricks do you use to help yourself work even when you don’t feel like it? Do you disconnect regularly to allow yourself time to recharge?

This is the 1st book in the 99U book series. The 2nd is: Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career. The 3rd is Making an Impact and is scheduled to be published out in September 2014.

Good luck with finding and shaping your own creative routine and mastering your personal productivity!