# Steal Like an Artist - Austin Kleon - Austin Kleon Synced: [[2023_11_30]] 6:03 AM Last Highlighted: [[2023_07_24]]  ## Highlights [[2023_07_24]] (Location 56) > First, you figure out what’s worth stealing, then you move on to the next thing. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 66) > All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 68) > As the French writer André Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” [[2023_07_24]] (Location 75) > Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas [[2023_07_24]] (Location 92) > The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 97) [[favorite]] > Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by. [[PKM System]] [[2023_07_24]] (Location 116) [[favorite]] > School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.   You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else—that’s how you’ll get ahead.   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. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 135) > See something worth stealing? Put it in the swipe file. Need a little inspiration? Open up the swipe file. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 157) > Fake it ’til you make it.   I love this phrase. There are two ways to read it:   1. Pretend to be something you’re not until you are—fake it until you’re successful, until everybody sees you the way you want them to; or 2. Pretend to be making something until you actually make something. I love both readings—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. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 187) > As Salvador Dalí said, “Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” [[2023_07_24]] (Location 188) > First, you have to figure out who to copy. Second, you have to figure out what to copy. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 212) > [[2023_07_24]] (Location 245) > Think about your favorite work and your creative heroes. What did they miss? What didn’t they make? What could’ve been made better? If they were still alive, what would they be making today? If all your favorite makers got together and collaborated, what would they make with you leading the crew?   Go make that stuff. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 248) > The manifesto is this: 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. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 283) > 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. Use the right tool for ideas [[Inkbase]] [[2023_07_24]] (Location 300) > Once you start getting your ideas, then you can move over to your digital station and use the computer to help you execute and publish them. When you start to lose steam, head back to the analog station and play. Spatial seperation is important [[2023_07_24]] (Location 304) > “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” —Jessica Hische [[2023_07_24]] (Location 309) > I think it’s good to have a lot of projects going at once so you can bounce between them. When you get sick of one project, move over to another, and when you’re sick of that one, move back to the project you left. Practice productive procrastination. Benjamin Franklin rotating subjects [[2023_07_24]] (Location 313) > Take time to be bored. One time I heard a coworker say, “When I get busy, I get stupid.” [[2023_07_24]] (Location 317) > Take time to mess around. Get lost. Wander. You never know where it’s going to lead you. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 319) > 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. [[Range]] [[2023_07_24]] (Location 325) > [[2023_07_24]] (Location 335) > 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. [[2023_07_24]] (Location 343) > [[2023_07_24]] (Location 357) > If there was a secret formula for becoming known, I would give it to you. But there’s only one not-so-secret formula that I know: Do good work and share it with people. [[If you are going to do something do it right]] [[Show your work]] [[2023_07_24]] (Location 384) > You don’t have to share everything—in fact, sometimes it’s much better if you don’t. Show just a little bit of what you’re working on. Share a sketch or a doodle or a snippet. Share a little glimpse of your process. Think about what you have to share that could be of some value to people. Share a handy tip you’ve discovered while working. Or a link to an interesting article. Mention a good book you’re reading.   If you’re worried about giving your secrets away, you can share your dots without connecting them. The strategy pf the browser company