Book SummaryKeep Going, by Austin Kleon

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Keep Going

In Keep Going, poet and visual artist Austin Kleon provides 10 principles for staying creative—even in the face of burnout, self-doubt, or distress at the state of the world. We’ve divided his principles into three central themes:

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Keep Going Summary Principle #1: Have Healthy Creative Goals

Kleon says that to be creative without feeling overwhelmed or burned out, you have to use your creativity to pursue the right goals. He separates creative goals into two categories:

1. Unhealthy results-based goals
2. Healthy process-based goals

In this section, we’ll explain why results-based goals are unhealthy, and how you can avoid pursuing them. Then, we’ll explain the positive aspects of process-based goals, and Kleon’s suggestions for how you can pursue them.

(Shortform note: You might not have realized that pursuing results-based goals is unhealthy. This may be because, as Daniel Pink’s Drive suggests, society is built on results-based goals—in other words, we’re conditioned to see these as the types of goals we should pursue. For example, jobs and schools provide motivation by offering rewards like money or higher grades. This suggests that when you pivot to pursuing process-based goals, you’ll have to unlearn bad creative habits on top of making new, healthier ones.)

Unhealthy Results-Based Goals

**Results-based goals are unhealthy...

Keep Going Summary Principle #2: Stay in the Moment

Once you’ve made sure that you’re doing creative work for the right reasons, you can focus on the creative process itself. Kleon suggests that to ensure a healthy and productive creative process, you must stay in the moment. Staying in the moment prevents you from thinking too much about the past or worrying about the future—this way, you can focus entirely on thinking of new ideas and putting them into your work.

(Shortform note: Psychological research supports Kleon’s suggestion that staying in the moment stimulates creativity. A survey of various studies found a positive correlation between mindfulness (or being aware of what you’re thinking and doing in the present) and creativity.)

Kleon provides three guidelines for staying in the moment:

1. Take things one day at a time.
2. Make a creative space.
3. Slow down.

We’ll now explain how these guidelines help you stay in the moment, as well as Kleon’s suggestions for how to follow each of them.

Guideline #1: Take Things One Day at a Time

Focusing on one day at a time helps you...

Keep Going Summary Principle #3: Live a Healthy Creative Life

After discussing why and how you should pursue creativity, Kleon talks about the interaction between creativity and life as a whole and how you can make this interaction positive and healthy. This interaction is important because one benefits the other:

• A healthy life keeps you motivated and interested in your creative work, preventing burnout or feeling overwhelmed.
• Healthy creative work makes your life and the lives of others more positive by providing emotional or intellectual inspiration.

(Shortform note: Psychological research supports Kleon’s argument that your overall lifestyle and creativity impact each other. One study showed that higher creativity correlated with higher “intrinsic motivation” in life: wanting to do things out of love for the action itself. Based on this and other studies, some psychologists argue that actively working to stimulate creativity throughout your life is crucial for finding meaning or purpose in the things you do.)

Kleon provides three methods for living a healthy creative life:...

Shortform Exercise: Plan Your Creative Approach

Plan out how you’ll use Kleon’s suggestions in your approach to creative work.

What do you love about the process of making creative work? How can you focus on this aspect of creativity? (For example, if you’re an actor and love making new discoveries about your character, you might take extra time to sit down with your script and read it closely.)