Book Summary: Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
Steal Like An artist is probably one of the best books I have ever read, and I believe everyone( creatives or not) must read it. In case you don’t have time, here’s a quick summary of the book.
All Advice is Autobiographical
The author talks about his theory about when people give you advice, they’re basically trying to talk to themselves in the past.
1. Steal Like An Artist
Steal Without Shame
Everything in the world is worth stealing, maybe not today, maybe tomorrow, or any time in the future. So when the time comes, don’t think much and embrace it with open arms.
Nothing is Original
What is Originality? Undetected Plagiarism
If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.
The Genealogy of Ideas
Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.
Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.
You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life(environment). You are the sum of your influences.
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Be a collector, not a hoarder i.e.
Collect things that you actually like, don’t collect just for the sake of it.
Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by
Climb Your Own Family Tree
Create your own lineage of Inspirations. Study them, steal the best out of them, and then infuse all of it within you.
The great thing about dead or remote masters is that they can’t refuse you as an apprentice.
School Yourself
Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.
Immerse yourself in the habit of asking questions, rather than just seeking answers!
Save Your Thefts For Later
Keep a swipe file. It’s just what it sounds like — a file to keep track of the stuff you’ve swiped from others. It can be digital or analog — it doesn’t matter what form it takes, as long as it works.
It is better to take what doesn’t belong to you than to let it lie around neglected
2. Don’t Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Get Started
Make Things, Know Thyself
The inherent feeling of trying to figure everything out first will always stop you from taking action.
In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.
You’re ready. Start making stuff
Fake It Till You Make It
Pretend to be making something until you actually make something.
You have to dress for the job you want, not the job you have, and you have to start doing the work you want to be doing.
Start Copying
No one is born original, originality stems from imitation.
First, you have to figure out who to copy. Second, you have to figure out what to copy.
Who to copy is easy. You copy your heroes — the people you love, the people you’re inspired by, the people you want to be.
What to copy is a little bit trickier. Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.
Imitation Isn’t Flattery
A wonderful flaw about human beings is that we’re incapable of making perfect copies. Our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives. That is how we evolve.
3. Write The Book You Want To Read
Write What You Like
Go make that stuff.
Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use — do the work you want to see done.
4. Use Your Hands
Step Away From The Screen
The computer is really good for editing your ideas, and it’s really good for getting your ideas ready for publishing out into the world, but it’s not really good for generating ideas. There are too many opportunities to hit the delete key. The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us — we start editing ideas before we have them
The cartoonist Tom Gauld says he stays away from the computer until he’s done most of the thinking for his strips, because once the computer is involved, “things are on an inevitable path to being finished. Whereas in my sketchbook the possibilities are endless.”
5. Side Projects And Hobbies Are Important
Practice Productive Procrastination
Take time to mess around. Get lost. Wander. You never know where it’s going to lead you.
Don’t Throw Any Of Yourself Away
If you have two or three real passions, don’t feel like you have to pick and choose between them. Don’t discard. Keep all your passions in your life
You can’t connect dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward
6. Do Good Work And Share It With People
In The Beginning, Obscurity Is Good
This is actually a good thing because you want attention only after you’re doing really good work. There’s no pressure when you’re unknown. You can do what you want. Experiment. Do things just for the fun of it. When you’re unknown, there’s nothing to distract you from getting better
Learn to code. Figure out how to make a website. Figure out blogging. Figure out Twitter and social media and all that other stuff. Find people on the Internet who love the same things as you and connect with them. Share things with them.
7. Geography Is No Longer Our Master
You don’t have to live anywhere other than the place you are to start connecting with the world you want to be in. If you feel stuck somewhere, if you’re too young or too old or too broke, or if you’re somehow tied down to a place, take heart. There’s a community of people out there you can connect with.
Distance and difference are the secret tonics of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything
8. Be Nice( It’s a small world)
Make Friends, Ignore Enemies
The best way to vanquish your enemies on the Internet? Ignore them. The best way to make friends on the Internet? Say nice things about them
Stand Next To Talent
You’re going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with. Choose Wisely
If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re probably in the wrong room
Quit Picking Fights And Go Make Something
Complain about the way other people make software by making software.
Validation Is For Parking
You can’t go looking for validation from external sources. Once you put your work into the world, you have no control over the way people will react to it.
So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored — the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.
Keep A Praise File
9. Be Boring( That’s the only way to get work done)
Take Care of Yourself
Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work
Stay Out Of Debt
Keep A LogBook
10. Creativity is About Subtraction
As DaVinci once said that simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. Similarly, real creativity comes out when you practice constraints.
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