The bookcase

One of the books Shaun rated five out of five.

Share Your Work

Austin Kleon

  • 5/5
  • Finished 2023
  • Memoir
  • Self-development
  • Philosophy
  1. You don’t have to be a genius
    1. embrace being an amateur
    2. read obituaries, it puts everything into perspective. They’re not about death, but about life.
  2. Think process, not product
    1. show how the sausage is made, the person behind the product.
    2. become a documentarian of what you do
  3. Share something small every day
    1. do a daily dispatch. Ask ‘so what?’. Turn your flow into stock.
    2. have your own domain name, your own self-invention machine - where you can be the person you really want to be.
  4. Open your cabinet of curiosities
    1. where do you get your inspiration? What do you fill your head with?
  5. Tell good stories
    1. a character wants something, goes after it despite opposition, and so arrives at a win, lose or draw
  6. Teach what you know
    1. what’s your cookbook?
  7. Don’t turn into human spam
    1. be curious, attentive and practise the continual projection of interest
  8. Learn to take a punch
    1. relax and breathe - criticism won’t kill you
    2. strengthen your neck - practise being criticised. put out a lot of work
    3. roll with the punches - it’s not a big deal, see the funny side
  9. Sell out
    1. celebrate the victory of others as if it were your own
    2. the real risk in life is not changing. I have to feel that i’m after something.
    3. if you have had success, you have had luck. You owe a debt to the unlucky.
  10. Stick around
    1. you can’t count on success, you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you.
    2. chain-smoke - work like a chain reaction, each subject leads to the rest.