Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon | Free Book Summary

Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon

Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again!

Not So Secret Formula

Do good work and share it with people.

Step one, “do good work,” is incredibly hard. There are no shortcuts. Make stuff every day. You should expect to stink for a while. Fail. Get better.

Step two, “share it with people,” was really hard up until about ten years ago or so. Now, it’s very simple: “Put your stuff on the Internet.”

Reveal Your Secrets

Step 1: Wonder at something.

Step 2: Invite others to wonder with you. You should wonder at the things nobody else is wondering about.

If everybody’s wondering about apples, go wonder about oranges. The more open you are about sharing your passions, the closer people will feel to your work.

Artists aren’t magicians. There’s no penalty for revealing your secrets.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Remember “garbage in, garbage out”? 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, the people who are doing the really interesting work.

Curious

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else—that’s how you’ll get ahead. Google everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.

Creative

Life is a lonely business, often filled with discouragement and rejection. Validation is for parking, but it’s still a tremendous boost when people say nice things about our work.

It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don’t have that energy if you waste it on other things.

Learn from them; steal from them.

Make Stealing A Habit

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.

Parkinson’s Law: “Work gets done in the time available.”

Get a calendar. Fill the boxes. Don’t break the chain.

Limitations mean freedom

In this age of information abundance and overload, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out so they can concentrate on what’s really important to them.

In the end, creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in; it’s the things we choose to leave out. Choose wisely.