I started 2021 reading the book Show Your Work! - 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon. The book inspired me greatly and showed me a new perspective of looking into things. The book talks about how to be findable. In the world of the Internet, where almost everybody is connected through social media, self-promotion has become simpler. How do I get noticed? How do I find an audience? The book presents the answers to all these questions.
Austin Kleon states that to become findable all you have to do is show your work. The book gave me an insight into how I as a student can show my work. Some of my learnings from the book are:
Being an Amateur
The idea of being an amateur- an enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love, made me think how a slight change of perspective can have great impacts on our lives. Looking at myself as an amateur shows me the vast opportunities to learn new things. The mere idea of being a beginner frees the mind from the fear of making mistakes. When you’re not afraid to make mistakes, learning becomes fun. As quoted from the book:
“Amateurs [are] just regular people who get obsessed with something and spend a ton of time thinking out loud about it…”
Think Process not Product
Show the process.
The author says that,
“...by letting go of our egos and sharing our process, we allow for the possibility of people having an ongoing connection with us and our work, which helps us move our product forward.”
He says that whatever be the nature of our work, we should share it. I think that sharing the process also helps you love your work even more. It helps you drive towards your goal even more passionately. It also helps to understand that the process is more important. When you learn and then share, you become a part of a Learn and Teach cycle. The knowledge that you share might be of great help to someone else.
As a student learning to code, I realize that the complete idea of #100DaysofCode is based on this concept where people share what they coded in a day.
Share on daily basis- Document your work
The idea to ‘focus on days’ resonates with me. The book explains how sharing work every day is better than a resume or a portfolio. Sending out daily dispatch can be of any form from a blog post to a Youtube video. Documenting your work daily, in my opinion, will help you to stay consistent and track your progress towards your goal. Looking back at what you learned can be highly motivating and help you appreciate your effort. This also opens the scope of analysis and improvements.
I would highly recommend reading this book. Go ahead and share your work and learnings. And as the author says- ‘Don’t Quit Your Show’. Keep Going and don't quit!🌞
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