So, in class this week we talked more about turning our websites into platforms that can serve others. We worked through our user persona's to make them better and make them useful to us. Lastly, to tie these two together our teacher, Christina Dick owner of Tiramisu For Breakfast, recommenced we read the book Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. This book is a short read but a very valuable one.
Scenius
Scenius is described as a healthier way of thinking about creativity and it entails having a group of talented people to come up with great ideas instead of just one person. He points out that creativity isn't produced in a vacuum and is more influenced by the world around us. Collaboration is the key to success.
Sometimes you get the best ideas by just talking to other people and seeing what they think. I know there has been several occasions where somebody says one word and it sparks all these ideas in my head. I mean painters couldn't paint people unless they were influenced by other people and how they move. Writers couldn't write unless they were influenced by the way others talk. I think in today's time we want to get in our heads to try and come up amazing ideas so we can be called genius', but it really doesn't work that way.
One Day You'll Be Dead
I like that Kelon brings this line of thinking up because it's so true and it's so humbling and it's so inspiring all at the same time.
It really pushes you to take risks because in the end you don't really have anything to lose because one day you'll be dead.
I think this idea also supports his -be an amateur- idea because it promotes the process of always wanting to learn new things because why stop at being a master of one thing.
It is super humbling because it reminds us that no matter how different we all are we all share one thing in common. We all one day will be dead.
So, this thought process really gets you to the point where you show your work, and you constantly learn new, and you collaborate with new people, and you say fuck it and jump head first into whatever it is that brings you joy.
So What Test
I love this part of the book purely because it's humorous to me!
The So What test is when you're thinking about showing your work and you ask yourself "so what". The goal being to determine if what you're showing is useful or interesting to everyone else.
I know he's talking in terms of more professional work and he points out that personal life things don't pass the so what test so they should be left out. Its humorous to me because I have been applying this to my personal life even before I read this book! When people post personal stuff I'm always like ~so what~. Meaning I find their content very irrelevant. This has stopped me a few times from posting random crap because I realize it's so irrelevant! People obviously should post what ever they want so I'm not trying to be too harsh. I've just realized that maybe I've developed this awareness of deciding what is useful and what isn't and I could apply that to my work when I'm deciding what to show or what not to show. Idk, maybe I'm overthinking it but there's definitely people who overshare so it's good to realize you need to filter some stuff.
Rating
10/10 would recommend
Lots of pictures and quotes so that's great!!
It's a great read and I hope you check it out!!