My 5 important take-aways from the “Show Your Work” By Austin Kleon
How to overcome fear, self-consciousness to share your work and thoughts to the public and benefit from it.
I used to be so afraid to share anything online, but some books like “Show your work” (Austin Kleon) and some psychology theories like spotlight theory really changed my mindset. So I overcome my fears and decide to share the 5 most important things I took away from them.
1. You don't need to become an expert in some areas in order to share your ideas with others. What is obvious to you might be helpful for others.
Do you have those moments in your life, when you want to share something, there is some voice inside your mind saying “Come on, this is too silly to share it, people already knew it”.
I do have lots of such moments when I am hesitating on whether to share something. Sometimes the voice in my head also says: “You are not qualified to share anything because you don't have a PhD in X or 10 years working experience in Y…”.
It is okay to have thoughts like that. Because it shows that you have good self-awareness. And you are surrounded by knowledgeable people so that you have an impression that everyone already knew it based on your observation with people around you.
However, when you step out of your friend circle, you will find there is a bigger world out there. Even you share something obvious to you, it might help others in a specific way.
Even if you think you are not doing a fantastic job, you could also share the lesson you learnt from your failure. So that someone who read will not fall in the same place as you.
2. Don’t care too much about what other people think or might say.
There is a second rock that blocks my path to share something: caring too much about what other people think or might say, like what my friends are going to say, what my family thinks, what other people online might react when they see it.
We are social animals, so it is normal to care about what others might think. But the fact is, sometimes, no one even cares, they are busy with their own life.
In the social psychology area, there is a term called “Spotlight effect”, it says that we tend to overestimate how much people notice us. We have this illusion that there is a spotlight on us all the time, that highlighting all of our flaws or imperfections. But the truth is that we are not in the centre of anyone’s world, people all have their own things to worry about. Don’t be too self-conscious and sensitive because maybe no one is paying attention.
Secondly, even if they judge you, SO WHAT? They cannot hurt you (unless you let them mentally influence you). You will not die because of some bad comments. You are the master of your own, physically and mentally.
3. Sharing your work and thoughts with others actually helps you to become a better person.
Sharing your work and thoughts is not wasting your time. Exposing your work to the public motivates you to produce better work. Sharing your thoughts makes you find more like-minded people.
You might get good feedbacks, useful critiques, inspiration, tips to do it better and differently. You might get followers, connections and friends, which broaden your view and motive you along the journey. All these serendipity will not exist if you don't expose your work and thoughts to others.
Also, explaining and sharing with others about what you have learnt is a good learning habit. The Feynman technique (developed by the Nobel Prize physicist Richard Feynman) says you should explain what you have learnt in plain language. So why not write down and share with people online about what you have learnt, the books and blog posts you read. In that way, you will get a deeper understanding of the things you learn.
4. There are more things you could imagine to share with others.
So we have talked about benefits to share and how to overcome fear, embarrassment, self-consciousness. But what can we share online?
The answer is actually anything, as long as it is positive:
- You could share your work,
- The art/music/painting/video/photograph you made, the process of making that art,
- Your code,
- The certificate you received by taking an online course, the review of that online course,
- The reading note of a recent book you read, the books you would recommend to others,
- Your research about some topics that you are interested,
- Even the secret recipe that shared within your family tree, why not share to the world?
….
There is no boundary to share. The important thing is to find the right community and share the good stuff.
Think about that, the society will become a better place if more people share their thoughts, knowledge and lessons.
5. Do not overshare.
We also need to think dialectically about sharing since we certainly do not want to spam people by oversharing things.
Do not share the things you don’t want to share. Leave a little secret garden to yourself for your privacy and intimate inner self.
Do not share the things you will regret later for all kinds of reasons.
Do not share it for the sake of sharing and getting eyeballs.
Summary:
- You don’t need to become an expert in some areas in order to share your ideas with others. What is obvious to you might be helpful for others.
2. Don’t care too much about what other people think or might say.
3. Sharing your work and thoughts with others actually helps you to become a better person.
4. There are more things you could imagine to share with others.
5. Do not overshare.
Happy sharing!
References:
[1] “Show Your Work!”, Book by Austin Kleon, 2014
[2]https://medium.com/taking-note/learning-from-the-feynman-technique-5373014ad230
