“Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon Book Summary

Over the last month and a half, I’ve posted online more than I ever have in my life. And to my surprise, it was easy to do. It’s all because of the book “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon. Here’s a summary of the book. By the end, you’ll also be able to post more than you ever have before and see all of the benefits that come from it.

Impressions/personal thoughts

• ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Who should read it?

• Anyone who wants to start posting content on the internet but doesn’t know how to go about doing it

The book in 3 sentences

1. Document your work.
2. Find a way to turn what you documented or recorded into content.
3. Post consistently, and eventually you’ll see cool returns.

My top 3 lessons

Lesson 1 - When you work, document your process.

“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.” — Austin Kleon

I tried out the idea of starting a work journal. More so than helping me come up with content to post, it was just therapeutic to write down what I was learning and thinking at the job. I think I’ll always have a work journal.

Here’s a picture from the book with more advice on how to document your work and process.

As well, here’s a list of things that you could use as material for posts. These are all things that you might already have or be coming up with on a regular basis.

An important thing to notice about the list of stuff above is that it mentions a lot of different types of media. It mentions video, audio, drawings, pictures, and writings.

That said, if you’re like me and making videos sounds like a horrible time, don’t let that stop you from making content because there’s other types of media you can share too.

Lesson 2 - Post something every day.

Once you have things documented that you can use as material for posts, Austin Kleon suggests that you go through them on a daily basis. Then, look for a small piece of what’s there and share it online.

I’ve found trying to post on a daily basis really helpful because…

1. I don’t have 2 hours every day to devote to making a post. So trying to share something on a daily basis has forced me pick material from what I documented that I could make into a post somewhat quickly rather than picking something that takes a while to explain or produce.
2. It’s made me a lot less likely to spend all of my time trying to make every post perfect. Being a perfectionist is time consuming. I have much more of a mindset now that I’m going for quantity over quality. Then, as I learn over time, the quality will improve too.

Note — I found that just jumping into posting every day is tough because it takes time to get used to the new habit and using whatever platform(s) you do(especially if you aren’t normally on social media a lot). So maybe start off with once a week. Then go to once every other day. Then once a day.

Lesson 3 - You don’t have to be an expert to talk about the stuff you post.

I’ve felt for a long time that I had stuff from my work and personal life that I could post online, but I never shared it because I had no proof that I was an expert or super successful in those areas. I didn’t feel like I was established enough, and I let that stop me from posting.

In the book, Austin Kleon explains why you don’t have to be an expert to share what you’re doing or learning in your life. Here’s some quotes from the chapter “Be an Amateur”:

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

The book definitely made me feel like not being super successful in a certain area yet didn’t matter because I’m not posting from the perspective of an expert or a guru or something like that. Instead, I’m posting from the perspective of…

• someone who is still learning too, or
• someone who’s just sharing their own work or life experiences.

And if you attack me online for learning something new or sharing a helpful experience that really happened to me, you’re lame, not me.

That’s it for the book summary. I hope this helps! If you’re interested in reading the full book, here’s a link to get it — link to the book

Thanks for reading! If you found the info here useful and would like more, but in a customized way to help you reach your next business or personal goal, sign up for a free game plan at my site, goaldoctors.com. We’ll be happy to help! — from Nick