Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Book Summary

This title always rubbed me the wrong way, since we live in an age where people endlessly take from others, don't give proper credit and act like they invented something new that has been around for thousands of years.

I'm happy to report that Austin is not telling you to just steal stuff like a criminal.

Last year I read Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon.

That book delivered the right message at the right time for me. It is funny how sometimes the universe just aligns you with something that you need with such impeccable timing.

It is not stretch to say that book catapaulted my YouTube channel and while I had some months of low output, during the second half of the year I really felt like I had hit my stride. Even battling health issues I managed 1 video per week for the remainder of the year.

This consistency both helped me reach the monetization requirements, but also gave me plenty of practice reps to hone my skills.

At the same time I was taking the Ship 30 for 30 online writing course, which employs a host of strategies to help teach writers how to generate endless ideas.

Your job is to collect good ideas.

Collecting ideas is something I do regularly. I see a title and thumbnail that I like on youtube, i save it to a note for inspiration later. I do the same thing with quotes from books so articles like these could be created in the future when inspiration strikes.

My own ideas come for videos or photos or dreams and goals and they too get saved and curated in a note. It is haphazard, not well organized, but manageable with the system that I have in place.

After completing Ship 30 I thought it was time to revisit the work from Austin and start with the acclaimed "Steal like an artist".

Once again Austin has broken this book up into bite sized sections and even if you only read one per day you would be finished in less than two weeks. I love that. In my busy life sitting down for a quick win of 10 to 15 minutes of reading in the morning is great!

The book goes through 10 chapters, each with a theme about creativity and collecting ideas from those who came before us, then focus on how you can take pieces from all of these ideas and come up with something new that is unique to you.

The first quote I took in the book was this:

Being original is over rated.

The likelihood that you came up with something brand new is so extremely low that you might as well not try. Take inspiration from others but acknowledge that being authentic to yourself is different from being original. Sharing your opinions and viewpoints are valuable today because there will be many others in the audience who share similar experiences and will be able to easily relate and offer some counterpoints to how they do things slightly differently.

Oftentimes you hear about imposter syndrome. I can't say that I relate.

I've been faking it for years.

In engineering, especially in my early career it was sink or swim. Show up to the job, you get thrown in a 13ft deep pool, someone has tied cement blocks to your legs and you are being paid a great sum of money to figure out how to get your head just slightly above water for that precious air.

I have no idea what I am doing on YouTube.

I am self-taught in all things camera, video, editing and audio. I did not let that stop me form making progress.

My visions of what I want a project to turn out as are often different from how it turns out. Each project teaches me something though, that continuous ipmrovement over tiem is what I ama counting on to know what i need to know when the time comes that i need to know it.

Because no one knows who I am, I am free to experiment. New formats, new shots, different thumbnails, topics, titles, etc. Austin asks us to treat this like a superpower, because it is.

You don't have to worry too much about being embarrased because even if a video blows up, chances are peoplew ill forget about it tomorroww and go back to their own busy lives

There will be critics either way.

I have deleted countless comments form unhinged individuals. Don't engage. I came from a different time on the internet, a much less kind time, which is crazy to think about after reading some of the shit people decide to post, usually anonymously.

I was recently listening to Modern Wisdom with Chris Williams and Adam Grant, Adam says:

“Because somebody who doesn't know your world or doesn't know your potential is not a good judge of what you need to work on.”

From Modern Wisdom: #885 - Adam Grant - How To Overcome Your Fear Of Failure & Unlock Your Potential, Jan 4, 2025
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So quiet those outside voices and really take stock on if someone has your best interest at heart before putting any value into the feedback or criticism.

Another situation that I had recently made me grateful to have a career that provides for me and my family outside of my creative pursuits.

Not having to worry about signing a contract that I am not 100% confident in because, I don't have to.

A brand reached out with an opportunity to send me a product for review on their channel. I did not like some of the verbiage in the contract, so I sent a revised version and added a heap of clarity to the deliverables. I heard nothing back and I kept going on with my life.

I don't have to say yes for any reason other than "I want to."

That then spawned me reaching out to a couple of guys I interact with on Threads and asked if I could be a guest on their podcast. Won't you know, they said yes. Stay tuned for that! I was instantly more excited to just talk tech with two strangers on the internet, who I had never met, than I was to pursue my first potential brand contract on YouTube.

All because of my day job.

And lastly, my reservations at the beginning of the book, before even reading it were swiftly resolved at the end.

Austin details accounts of people just reading the word steal and thieving the book from the shelf. I went into this book slightly skeptical, but still with an open mind, and I am pretty confident that a jerk did not come out.

I know for a fact that I paid for the book with my own money at least.

Maybe my perspective gave some insight to you and inspired you to pick up the book and read it yourself.