# learning in public Show your work as you go along because we are all [[be an amateur|amateurs]] just trying to figure things out. This means that you are open and public about what you are working on and what you are figuring out. Find a public platform to show off works in progress even if they are rough and incomplete. I’ve always found that rough sketches and unrefined visual work has a raw energy and honesty that is often missing in completed and packaged work. Have a blog. Post on social media platforms. Regular schedule. Journal. Photos. Sketch Dumps. Show your sketchbook. [[leave a record|Leave a record]]. [[get it on the page|Get it on the page]]. [[write to understand|Write to understand]]. This goes by many names and phrases. Austin Kleon wrote an entire book called “Show Your Work!”. Andy Matuschak says to [“work with the garage door up”](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z21cgR9K3UcQ5a7yPsj2RUim3oM2TzdBByZu) based on story by Robin Sloan about a woodworking shop that always had the door open so people could see what was going on inside. Anne-Laure Le Cunff says [“work in public”](https://nesslabs.com/work-in-public). I also like the phrase “thinking out loud” too. Most of all, I like the term **learning in public**. We are always learning. Create to understand what you know. Sharing discoveries with others. This website of mine is a public [[! mind garden|mind garden]] of ideas that I find fascinating. The article [16 life-learnings from 16 years of the the Marginalian](https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/10/23/16-learnings/) is filled with Maria Popova’s wisdom learned through the experience of putting her work out on the internet for over a decade and a half. In the introduction, she says [”the seven friends somehow became several million readers without much effort on my behalf beyond the daily habit of showing up for the blank page”](https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/10/23/16-learnings/#:~:text=the%20seven%20friends%20somehow%20became%20several%20million%20readers%20without%20much%20effort%20on%20my%20behalf%20beyond%20the%20daily%20habit%20of%20showing%20up%20for%20the%20blank%20page.). I love the idea of just doing your thing and putting it out there to be discovered. Eventually, hopefully, your work is found and appreciated. It may lead to income and gigs and awards but you don’t do the work with those expectations. You do the work because you are trying to understand something that fascinates and compels you. --- ### unsorted thoughts living life as a creative person instead of being a person that makes creative things. mindset of documenting your life. everyone is creative and are always making creative things. needs to be more than unenlightened navel-gazing though. accountability. you may be more motivated if you are showing your work on a regular and ongoing basis. intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. plus it keeps you honest. build a following. build a community. scenius (aka [[find your tribe]].) process is a hell of a lot more interesting to people than the final product. --- tags: #creativity #process home: [[! creative process]]