Show Your Work has inspired me to commit to writing and posting more on my site. I found this book on Ali Abdaal’s YouTube channel, where he goes on to explain how starting a blog has completely changed his life (direct review for his book review here), but he has a ton of really great videos and book reviews, which I would suggest checking out. His book review resonated with me as many of the hesitations on starting/continuing a blog, which Ali speaks of, addressed many of the hesitations I was feeling. We put up roadblocks and create scenarios and situations in our head, which only exist in our heads, and those created scenarios hold us back in the real world. No one cares that much about you and what you are doing, so you may as well do it anywhere and see where it goes.
If you have any interest in blogging, or sharing anything on the Internet, I strongly suggest reading this book. I enjoyed the quirky easy read format of this book as well as the overall takeaways. By showing your work and publishing the process of what you are doing, will give you the foundation to build on, and the more material you will provide yourself in the future.
Below are some of my notes and quotes from this read:
- p15 – Amateurs have little to lose, they take chances, experiment, and follow whims. Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous.
- p16 – Contributing something is better than contributing nothing.
- p19 – Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.
- p20 – You cant find your voice if you don’t use it.
- p23 – if your work isn’t online, then it doesn’t exist.
- p27 – Thinking about death every morning makes me want to live.
- p36 – People really do want to see how the sausage gets made.
- p67 – Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.
- p87 – Credit is always due: The number one rule of the internet: People are lazy. Provide a hyperlink pointing back to the creation of the work.
- p129 – If you want followers, be someone worth following.
- p131 – If you want to be interesting, you have to be interested.
- p151 – The more criticism you take, the more you realize it cant hurt you.
- p174 – Try new things. If an opportunity comes along that will allow you to do more of the kinds of work you want to do, say YES. If an opportunity comes along that would mean more money, but less of the kind of you want to do, say NO.
- p183 – “work is never finished, only abandoned” – Paul Valery
- p197 – When you feel like you have learned whatever there is to learn from what you’re doing, its time to change course and find something new to learn so you can move forward. You cant be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.
I can honestly say that I am excited after reading this book and I hope you take a moment to at least check out the video review, which prompted me to request the book from the library. I mention the library again because of what an amazing resource it is, and everything is free!
I hope you find value in this book and as I write more, I hope I can receive feedback which I can use to grow!
Perspective is key 