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    What I learned from Austin Kleon about sharing what you know

    Learning and sharing, sharing and learning. It’s a virtuous circle. That’s what I learned, and that’s what I’m sharing.

    “it’s not about being credentialed or being an expert, it’s about seeing a space open up, starting to do work that needs doing, sharing your ideas, and sticking around long enough so people show up and you can interact with them in a meaningful way and build something lasting.” Austin Kleon

    I think there are four levels of expertise, and everyone is potentially standing on one of these four steps:

    • Learn - “Here’s what I’ve learnt.” Curator
    • Share - “Here’s what I’ve found.” Expert
    • Tell - “Here’s what I’ve done.” Mentor
    • Be - “Here’s who I am.” Role model

    When someone believes they have no expertise, that doesn’t mean they have nothing useful to say. We often learn best from those who are just one step ahead of us on the learning journey, so telling others, “Here’s what I learned today” may well be really helpful.

    photograph of a stone staircase on a forest trail. The steps curve away upwards and are strewn with fallen leaves

    You can get a lot done by writing slowly

    “People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so prolific’…God, it doesn’t feel like it—nothing like it.  But, you know, you put an ounce in a bucket each day, you get a quart.”

    John McPhee (quoted by Cal Newport)

    Journalist John McPhee rarely wrote more than 500 words a day, but his secret was the power of repetition. He did this seemingly small amount of writing nearly every day throughout his long career. By writing a little, a lot, he achieved an enormous amount, including countless articles, 29 books and a Pulitzer Prize.

    That's what writing slowly is about. It doesn't mean being lazy. It means cultivating the discipline to keep writing. Five hundred words a day adds up to 182,500 words a year. It's not hard to write a lot. Quantity is not the issue. The only two obstacles are the difficulty of maintaining the habit, and the little voice in your head that tells you your scribbling will never amount to anything.

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