Books · Creativity
Book summary and verdict
Show Your Work!
Kleon says share the ugly process while you’re learning, because hiding twelve drafts in FINAL_final2 and waiting to be discovered isn’t artistic integrity. You’re holding your own work hostage, and nobody has called.
Should you read it?
Read it if you keep waiting to become impressive before becoming visible. Skip it if you already share your process without turning breakfast into a leadership lesson.
L.I kept my work private until it was perfect, and the public showed tremendous restraint by never discovering it. Let people see the attempts, mistakes, and useful discoveries, because invisibility remains a poor distribution strategy.
The ideas
I · Visibility
It turns out the public wasn’t ignoring you. They were respecting your privacy.
Show people the rough version, because if they only see the finished thing, they assume you’re gifted, and now you have to maintain that lie in meetings.
Not just the finished thing. Show the attempts, the mistakes, and the little discovery you made after spending three hours blaming an object that does not know you exist.
Creative people often wait to become impressive before becoming visible. First you improve the work. Then improve yourself. Then buy a better notebook. Then understand your personal brand. Then die.
L.Secrecy has preserved many disasters.
You don’t need a content strategy. Even saying “content strategy” makes a hobby sound like it needs a regional manager. You just need to occasionally let another person see the thing.
II · Scenius
You were never a lone genius. You just cropped everybody else out.
The rest of this idea is in the app.
III · Teaching
Teach it while you still remember which part made you feel stupid. Soon you’ll call that part simple and become the problem.
The rest of this idea is in the app.
IV · Process
A finished project makes people say, “Impressive.” Showing the messy process makes them say, “Oh, good, I’m not uniquely defective.”
The rest of this idea is in the app.
What to actually do
Pick one real thing you are already making, fixing, or learning.
Smaller: Explain what you tried and what happened, in two sentences.
L.If this requires a launch campaign, congratulations, you found a new way not to share it.
Put it where the interested people already are, a small forum, community, blog, or shared thread. Then return to the work.
Smaller: Make the process findable. You do not need a content strategy. Even saying “content strategy” makes a hobby sound like it needs a regional manager.
L.Post the useful thing. Leave before you become human spam.
Explain one thing you learned today, while you still remember which part was confusing.
Smaller: Experts say, “Simply configure the environment.” You say, “There’s a tiny button hidden behind another button. No, the other one. Yes, I know. This software was designed by a raccoon.”
L.A desperate person has relaxed credential requirements. He’ll follow a dog.
Show one failure and the embarrassingly small fix.
Smaller: People can admire perfection from a safe distance. Tell them you lost an hour because one switch was off.
L.Useful beats impressive.
If posting publicly makes your organs retreat, send the work to one person who understands the craft.
Smaller: Visibility does not require transforming your personality into a brand. It requires letting another human see the thing.
L.The public was respecting your privacy.
Still in the app
- What happened when people tried them
- Bullshit?
- Where readers disagree
- The one thing worth remembering
The rest of this book is in the app.
Skip the Book reads the self-help books so you don't have to: what each one argues, what happened when real people tried it, which claims are exaggerated, and what to do tonight. 108 books and counting, new ones most days.
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