Book Notes

Today, I’ve read “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon.

I wish I had read it years ago. If I did, maybe I would have started my blog earlier than I did.

The core message in the book is to not work in secrecy, to instead share ideas, bits and pieces of work, what you are learning.

Here are a few highlights:

“The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.
“Become a documentarian of what you do.”
“Being open and honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things, too.”
“The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others”

I recommend this book to anyone who creates things but is afraid of showing them to people. Or who would like to write a blog or post on Instagram but think they don’t have anything worth sharing.

Related articles that I’ve read recently:

I’ve finished reading “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Here’s what I highlighted:

“Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”
“When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable—if there are no consequences—that poor performance becomes the new standard.”
“Relax, look around, make a call.”
“Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism. It can even stifle someone’s sense of self-preservation. Often, the most difficult ego to deal with is your own.”
“Discipline starts every day when the first alarm clock goes off in the morning.”
“The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win—you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”

And my favorite: