Be Nice. (The world is a small town.) ~ Austin Kleon

Each week I've discussing the book Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon. This week I'll be pointing out some of the more important points from Chapter 8 Be Nice. (The world is a small town.)  

A couple of old phrases popped into my head the minute I read the title - "The world is getting smaller all the time," which in essence means that as electronics get more sophisticated and humanity keeps expanding, there aren't many places that we (people) can't explore. Then the other, "Don't burn your bridges" - which pretty much means that if you're leaving a job (because you're going elsewhere, not being fired), leave on good terms because you may need to go back there to work in the future. Also, you may be working with them at some point on a project and you don't want to ruin that possible opportunity. Each of these do a good job of describing most of the chapter, but it also discusses making sure to keep smart people around you so that you can always be learning and creating.

I saw this quote in the chapter and just had to include it. I just laughed when I read this, because how many times have you been working online and ran across something that just really made you angry! I know I've seen things posted places that make think "How in the world can someone really believe that?" or something similar. So, I can imagine someone touching me on the arm and telling me "Quit picking fights" (as I struggle to keep myself from commenting on a horrible post I read) "and go make something." Anger, as with other emotions, can stir up the creative juices, so use it to your advantage and create a masterpiece!

Austin also suggests for us to surround ourselves with people who are smarter than we are. I also think that this could mean to be around people who are different than you are. We (people) can learn so much from our differences and in this learning we can become so much more creative. Just imagine how creative we could be if we surrounding ourselves by these smarter, different, people. I just knew that being "different" would come in handy some time!

For your enjoyment, I'm including a Far Side cartoon that I remembered when reading this section. Surround yourself with those smart people, please!