Posted In: Inspiration, Process

Austin Kleon on Risk-taking

Risk in life is shooting heroin to see if it’ll make you more like Lou Reed. Risk in life is blowing your savings on an apartment in Paris so you can write The Great American Novel. Risk in life is quitting your job and losing your health insurance just so you can live some Mythical Art Life.

Risk in work, on the other hand, is risking humiliation—risking putting your work out there, risking being wrong, risking being laughed at. Risk in work is writing something that scares the shit out of you, something that might make your mother not speak to you for three years. Risk in the work is following your whims to wherever they take you, to risk not knowing where you’re going, and risking that you’ll lose members of your audience along the way.

Austin Kleon on The Risks Worth Taking


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