By ofwisdomowl By Justin Kleon
Short summary
If you feel like its time to share with others what you got inside, Justin Kleon’s books (“Steal Like and Artist” and “Show Your Work”) will certainly be of great help. We all have dreams and passions hidden somewhere inside of us. These 2 books and probably Steven Pressfield’s trilogy (“The War of Art”, “Do the Work” and “Turning Pro”) will ignite your inspiration. Give them a try. You may discover something that can change you.
“Steal Like and Artist” Takeaways
The Genealogy of Ideas. Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.
Make things, Know Thyself. it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are. Creators just show up to do their thing. Every day.
Start copying. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying. Copy your heroes. Examine where you fall short. What’s in there that makes you different? That’s what you should amplify and transform into your own work.
Go make that stuff. The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use do the work you want to see done.
Side project and hobbies are important. It’s the side projects that really take off. Stuff that’s just play. That’s actually the good stuff. That’s when the magic happens. Take time to get bored. Take time to mess around. Get lost. Wander. You never know where it’s going to lead you.
Don’t throw any of yourself away. If you have two or three real passions, don’t feel like you have to pick and choose between them. Keep all your passions in your life. Don’t worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. Don’t worry about unity what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you’ll look back and it will all make sense.
Do good work and share it with people. In the beginning, obscurity is good. There’s no pressure when you’re unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things just for the fun of it.
Stand next to the talent. You’re only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with. If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.
Get yourself a calendar. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld has a calendar method that helps him stick to his daily joke writing. When you’re finished with your work, make a big fat X in the day’s box. “After a few days you’ll have a chain,” Seinfeld says. “Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
Creativity is subtraction. Creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out. Choose wisely. And have fun.
Quotes that resonated with me
- “All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas”
- “It’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.”
- “Nobody is born with a style or a voice. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.”
- “Merely imitating your heroes is not flattering them. Transforming their work into something of your own is how you flatter them. Adding something to the world that only you can add.”
- “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” Jessica Hische
- “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.” Steve Jobs
- “You’re only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with. If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room”
- “Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful.” Harold Ramis
- “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” Gustave Flaubert
- “Creativity is subtraction. Choose what to leave out. Choose wisely. And have fun.”
Extended Summary
“As the French writer André Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.“
If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.
All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. It’s right there in the Bible: “There is nothing new und the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
THE GENEALOGY OF IDEAS
Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.
CLIMB YOUR OWN FAMILY TREE.
How to start: chew on one thinker- writer, artist, role model – you really love. Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can. Climb up the tree as far as you can go. Once you build your tree, it’s time to start your own branch.
Seeing yourself as part of a creative lineage will help you feel less alone as you start making your own stuff.
MAKE THINGS, KNOW THYSELF.
In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.
You’re ready. Start making stuff. You might be scared to start. That’s natural.
Creators just show up to do their thing. Every day.
START COPYING
Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.
“Start copving what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.”- Yohii Yamamoto
Who to copy is easy. You copy your heroes the people you love, the people you’re inspired by, the people you want to be.
What to copy is a little bit trickier. Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.
The reason to copy your heroes and their style is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds. That’s what you really want to internalize their way of looking at the world.
So. Copy your heroes. Examine where you fall short. What’s in there that makes you different? That’s what you should amplify and transform into your own work.
In the end, merely imitating your heroes is not flattering them. Transforming their work into something of your own is how you flatter them. Adding something to the world that only you can add.
WRITE THE BOOK YOU WANT TO READ
The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best-write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career: just ask yourself, “What would make a better story?”
GO MAKE THAT STUFF
The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, do the work you want to see done.
SIDE PROJECTS AND HOBBIES ARE IMPORTANT
“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” Jessica Hische
PRACTICE PRODUCTIVE PROCRASTINATION
It’s the side projects that really take off. Stuff that’s just play. That’s actually the good stuff. That’s when the magic happens. Take time to get bored. Take time to mess around. Get lost. Wander. You never know where it’s going to lead you.
DON’T THROW ANY OF YOURSELF AWAY
If you have two or three real passions, don’t feel like you have to pick and choose between them. Don’t discard. Keep all your passions in your life.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.” Steve Jobs
Tomlinson suggests that if you love different things, you just keep spending time with them. “Let them talk to each other. Something will begin to happen.”
Don’t worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. Don’t worry about unity what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you’ll look back and it will all make sense.
THE SECRET: DO GOOD WORK AND SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE
IN THE BEGINNING, OBSCURITY IS GOOD
There’s no pressure when you’re unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things just for the fun of it. When you’re unknown, there’s nothing to distract you from getting better. No public image to manage.
You’ll never get that freedom back again once people start paying you attention, and especially not once they start paying you money.
The not so Secret Formula. It’s a two-step process.
Step one, “do good work,” is incredibly hard. There are no shortcuts. Make stuff every day. Know you’re going to suck for a while. Fail. Get better. Step two, “share it with people,”. Now, it’s very simple: “Put your stuff on the Internet.” You don’t put yourself online only because you have something to say – you can put yourself online to find something to say.
If you’re worried about giving your secrets away, you can share your dots without connecting them. You have control over what you share and how much you reveal.
BUILD YOUR OWN WORLD
Franz Kafka wrote, “It isn’t necessary that you leave home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don’t even listen, just wait. Don’t wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you.” And Kafka was born a century before the Internet!
Surround yourself with books and objects that you love. Tape things up on the wall. Create your own world.
STAND NEXT TO THE TALENT
You’re only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with. In the digital space, that means following the best people online-the people who are way smarter and better than you
Harold Ramis said “Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful.”
If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.
KEEP A PRAISE FILE
When those dark days roll around and I need a boost, I open that folder and read through a couple of those nice e-mails you got. Then I get back to work.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” Gustave Flaubert
Figure out what time you can carve out, what time you can steal, and stick to your routine. Do the work every day, no matter what. No holidays, no sick days. Don’t stop.
GET YOURSELF A CALENDAR
The comedian Jerry Seinfeld has a calendar method that helps him stick to his daily joke writing. He suggests that you get a wall calendar that shows you the whole year. Then, you break your work into daily chunks. Each day, when you’re finished with your work, make a big fat X in the day’s box. “After a few days you’ll have a chain,” Seinfeld says. “Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt.
Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
CREATIVITY IS SUBTRACTION. CHOOSE WHAT TO LEAVE OUT
Creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out. Choose wisely. And have fun.