Show Your Work

REVIEW OF SHOW YOUR WORK BY AUSTIN KLEON

I learnt a new concept from this book that I could not wait to share. I have spent the better of my life in the academia especially since our lives changed as a result of the pandemic. One phrase that come up so often is ‘Publish or Perish’. Away from the existential need to publish Kleon identifies other important reasons why we need to share our work. One that resonates with me is the benefit of finding a community. There are many voices around us, we are almost drowning in them and most of the time we either cannot relate to them or they do not care about what we love to talk about. We may love our work and want to talk about them but those around us, family, friends and acquitances may not have the same interest as we do. By consistently sharing ones work, a person may be able to gather others with similar interests and aspirations. We almost always hear about genius, the idea of scenius is rarely acknowledged although it is remarkable. This is the first time I am seeing this term and would like to explore more about its usage. No great discovery was as a result of one persons effort, there were alot of people on the scene making inputs. Some of the reasons I do not share my works and learnings is because I feel I have to get them to certain level before a second eye should see them. It seems I am not the only one plagued by this.

I would summarise my key takeaways in the following oints

• The scrape book is the strongest evidence of work
• Work only gets better after many iterations
• People want to be a part of great work and not just spectators
• Connection makes our work more impactful
• We all should learn to tell a good story (tell a story it gets better)
• Share the tids share the bits

Have you read the book?

What are your thoughts?