Why I Am Reading Show Your Work!
Why online presence matters and how this book could help! | On What I Read
Why I Am Reading “Show Your Work!”
It’s been around 16 days since I started reading non-fiction books. I started this habit when I was irritated at the amount of non-fiction books left unread in my living room. I had bought too many and had read none. So, I wanted to make reading these books a habit. I should say I am enjoying this a lot.
The day before, I had finished “Atomic Habits” by James Clear and had started looking into the books I had. I finally decided on “Show Your Work!” by Austin Kleon.
The reasons for reading this book.
I haven’t read the book fully. I bought the book after reading the first two chapters. So, what’s the book about? Simply put, it’s about showing your work to the world. It has been clear that in this age of the internet, your importance in your field is influenced by your presence.
Take Neil deGrasse Tyson; he’s an amazing astrophysicist, and we all know that (at least many do). But does that mean he’s the only amazing astrophysicist? No. Not even close. But why do we know more about him? It’s because of the presence he displayed. He frequently appeared on TV shows and published books, clashed with Elon Musk, and is still frequently online compared to others.
That’s what made the difference. Take up any different field. You can find someone more famous, well-known, closed off, and focused only on the work. Unfortunately, in my domain, the people with the best display would have offers coming to them. Someone gets approached by an e-learning site to do a course because he’s active on Instagram. Someone gets a job offer or a start-up deal because he frequently shares interesting technical articles. Heck, I even got one startup proposal when I was writing my technical articles.
That’s how important presence is to people who are not artists. And this book tackles just that.
Why did it take the first two chapters to decide?
Well, the online presence’s importance is appealing, but what matters more is the book itself. I am almost always sceptical about famous books. And Show Your Work! is a very famous one. This was the last book in stock when I bought it.
The first two chapters discuss about different things. We start the journey by breaking off myths and then go off how becoming a documentarian is one of the easiest ways to get a surplus of content to choose from. Here are a few points from them,
- In the spectrum of creative work, the difference between mediocre and good is vast. But the gap can be worked upon practice. The real gap is between doing nothing and mediocre.
- The only way to “find your voice” is to use it.
- The best way to start sharing your work is by committing to learn in front of others.
- Whatever the nature of the work, there’s art in what you do.
- By letting go of our egos and sharing our process, we allow people to build a connection with us.
What else?
Well, that’s just how I started reading the book. Starting today, I’d happily post updates on my views and interesting things the book shares on my account. So, if you are interested, follow me on this journey!
Thanks for staying till the end. I hope you found something valuable in this article. Until the next time! ✌️
