Things I learned from Austin Kleon’s ‘Keep Going’

Keep going is one of the books of Austin Kleon’s trilogy. Though it is supposed to be a motivational piece of work, it seemed to me the author talked to himself, and he even admitted this in his talk at Google.

These are the things I learned from Keep Going:

1. Make a routine

No matter if you are a morning person or a night owl, routine always helps. Small rituals every day can help to help us keep control over our time and productivity. This can be as small as listening to a podcast in the morning getting a light exercise every day. It is not advisable to follow the routine of a famous or successful person. We need to customize and check if a routine is helping us. By carefully observing the impact of a new practice over the well-being and productivity, it is possible to craft your routine.

2. Make a list

This is a fun and dreadful activity at the same time for many people. In the morning, we can create an extensive list for the day, and at the end of the day, seeing the incomplete task of that is enough to ruin the day. That means not every list has to be a list of tasks. It can be a list of wishful thinking; it can be a list of anything. The list brings order into a chaotic mind. A list can consist of stuff that you do not want to do. Back in 1977, punk band Wire made a list of things they do not wish to do. Their songs reflected their list of not-to-do items.

3. Instead of going for a designation/job title, keep doing what you love.

This is where I disagree with the author. At the beginning of my career, I believed in doing stuff I loved. And I kept this motto for ten years of my career. And then promotion happened, and I found that I could have more freedom and scope. I can decide what I want to do now, and now I can delegate tasks if something is blocking me. At the same time, m perceived value increased manifold. I found myself in a better position in any situation.

4. Stop doing work after office hours

Surviving the pandemic was not easy. It was challenging to work with tons of distractions. Like most of the issues of my life, it became worse before it got better. I got to learn how to manage time while working from home. It was crazy initially, but now I am used to working from home. One thing that kept me from being crazy was knowing when to press the pause button. It helps me to reorganize my brain and keep up my productivity.

5. Get a bliss station and disconnect from the world.

This is the most challenging task from this book. We are living in the era of notifications. From the smartwatch to our living room tv, every smart entity of our home tries its best to let us know that it needs our attention. Even if we open up our computer or our smartphone — hundreds of opened tabs, tens of unread emails, zillions of unfinished notifications from our favorite social media are ready to overwhelm us. It is hard to extract time from these attention-sucking tools around us. Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden more than 150 years ago; still, this book is relevant today. In my opinion, it is more relevant today than it was hundred years ago. A bliss station can be a reading room, a coffee shop, or even a garage. There is no boundary to getting creative. Saying no to distraction is another big step. We sometimes need to say no and find our me-time to get creative and productive.

6. It is okay to change our minds.

It is not necessary to stick to an idea. We are full of biases and cognitive issues influenced by our knowledge and experiences. And at the same time, it is also acceptable to change our minds about something. Changing perspective is also a part of growing up. And at the same time, it is best to avoid arguing on the internet.

7. Tidying up

A clean workspace gives a fresh perspective, and a well-rested night provides us with a day full of energy. However, the author has a different opinion about tidying up our place than the famous author Marie Condo, who is a proponent of discarding unused stuff. He sought a balance between a tidy home with creative bits of untidiness.

8. Go for a walk

Increase outdoor activities and let the brain do the task. Steve Jobs told in his biography many times that going for a long walk helped him to declutter his thoughts. It works for many of us. It doesn’t have to be a long walk all the time, and it can be watching a sunrise, going hiking, planting a tree.

Above all, every difficult phase of your life will pass. This is one of the critical findings of this book.