Little nuggets from an inspirational book 'Steal like an artist'

We all read and consume contents from various sources. In our reading pursuit, we often come across words that we find effortless to construe and feel an eternal connect that's sometimes hard to explain and assign adjectives to.
I recently had such experience when reading Austin Kleon's book- 'Steal like an artist'. I went through the book like a breeze and resonated sublimely with the core of who I am. Now, I don't claim to be anything like the publically renowned creative folks and cases referred to in the book but I can claim to have mind of own in this regard with my way of dealing with all things creative. And that's very much like in the spirit of creativity.
I don't like writing book reviews and that's for a reason. If my years of working in management/leadership roles have taught me something, it is this- To be effective as a leader, one must learn to suspend judgement and inculcate the habit of looking at things as they are. Mastering this skill is hard but this is something that has helped me in numerous ways (may be a blog on this later) in avoiding potential problems.

I somehow took this skill of suspending judgment in case of reading books too. And never liked reviewing books. Of course, depending upon stage of my life and state of mind, some of the books i read were relevant, some less so.

'Steal like an artist' definitely had an lasting impact on me, some thoughts resonated fully, some challenged me. I would be pursuing a few ideas and possibly write about them separately. In this blog, i just wanted to share the nuggets from this book that i shared as tweets (getting reasonable attention on social media). Hope you like these:


On working with people better than you:

If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.

On having a hobby:

It's so important to have a hobby. A hobby is something creative that's just for you. You don't try to make money or get famous off it, you just do it because it makes you happy. A hobby is something that gives but doesn't take.- Scott Tomlinson

On importance of being bored:

I get some of my best ideas when I'm bored, which is why I never take my shirts to the cleaners. I love ironing my shirts. it's so boring, I almost always get good ideas. If you're out of ideas, wash the dishes. Take a really long walk.

Procrastination isn't always a bad trait:

The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.

On source of ideas:

We don't know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops. - John Cleese

On the importance of unread library:

Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library.

On being prepared before asking questions:

Don't ask a question before you Google it. You'll either find the answer or you'll come up with a better question.

On Creativity:

Creativity is Subtraction. In the end, creativity isn't just the things we choose to put in, it's the things we choose to leave out. Choose wisely. And have fun.

On constraints vs creativity:

It seems contradictory, but when it comes to creative work, limitations mean freedom. Don't make excuses for not working- make things with the time, space, and materials you have, right now. The right constraints can lead to your very best work.

On getting comfortable being ignored:

Ironically, really good work often appears to be effortless. People won’t see the years of toil & sweat that went into it. Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you &; what you do. So get comfortable with being ignored - the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.

On how to best respond to complains:

Complain about the way other people make software by making software- Andre Torrez

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