Reading at work while trying to nurse a painfully sore throat from an infection I got from the kids. It was a particularly painful ear infection yesterday, but it has thus far just been a sore throat today. Let's hope that continues.
I received this book by Austin Kleon last night, and I'm already half way through it. It's a fairly simple read. I purchased it on the recommendation of a YouTuber, Ali Abdaal, after he mentioned it as an inspiration for him when he first started getting into blogging, vlogging, podcasting and the like.
I'll write a more detailed review later, but one of the things that stood out to me was a point that Austin Kleon makes in his book that tied in nicely with something else I had been studying on the medical education side of things.
Kleon argues the point that people aren't just interested in your final product, but rather that the greater interest is in the process of how you got there. They aren't looking for the final product of some intellectual giant, but rather the daily grind of an average person. This rather closely echos a sentiment shared by Tyler Christifulli at FOAMfrat in their Educator's Atlas. He discusses one of the key parts of being a good presenter/lecturer, which is: to be a good storyteller. When developing a protagonist for their story, many educators and lecturers like to make themselves the hero of their story. These are typically the quintessential "war stories" which have, understandably earned a poor reputation. These are the worst story telling devices to get buy in from your audience. Most audience members respond better to the story of failure followed by learning and progress. The term he uses is: "competent, but vulnerable." We can all better relate to someone who is imperfect, and we engage when that imperfect protagonist come face to face with his own shortcomings, and then work to overcome them.
In much the same way, then, we don't relate as well to celebrities who already have an established name. For instance, I don't relate as well to Dr. Scott Weingart (from the EmCrit Podcast) as I do to Tyler. Dr. Weingart is supremely intelligent, an accomplished physician, and has had medical podcast since 2009. He's built a brand and website that now encompasses so much more then the original EmCrit. By comparison, Tyler (and Sam) started FOAMfrat back in 2017. While still accomplished lecturers, podcasters, and businessmen, they still show so much of their behind the scenes work, from Sam's walk through of how to set up studio lighting, to Tyler's love of drawing and animation and how he makes his graphics, they show you the work that goes into the final product, and in doing so, make the barriers much less intimidating.
In the spirit of the book, here's a small snippet of what life looks like for an everyday truck medic that wants to take care of his family, and wants to educate the next generation of paramedics, and in doing so become a better clinician.
Check out Show Your Work for yourself.
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