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This post contains a synopsis of the most valuable lessons from John Stepper’s book, Working Out Loud.

<h3>What is Working Out Loud?</h3>

I was first introduced to Working out Loud in an old post from @kevinwong - here's the one: https://steemit.com/society/@kevinwong/working-out-loud

The idea of “Working Out Loud” seems to me like a core concept of success on the Steem blockchain. After all, if you want to contribute something valuable to the Steem ecosystem, you need to know how to share your ideas with other people in an effective way.

It took me a while to get my hands on the book. Today, finally, I dug in. 

<h3>My Questions Before Reading</h3>

Before I opened the book, I wrote down a few questions that I hoped to answer by reading it:

*Q: ”How do I document my work in a way that is most valuable to other people?”* 

*Q: ”What are the best strategies/tactics for distribution of this content?”* 

*Q: ”How do I balance the need to share my work with the desire for long periods of uninterrupted time / "flow" / etc?”*

*Q: ”When SHOULDNT I work out loud?”*

After putting my initial thoughts into words, I was ready to dive in.

<h3>Part One: For a Better Career and Life</h3>

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In this section John sets out to motivate you and demonstrate why his book is worth reading. I was already sold, so I didn’t need to read this too closely. Nonetheless, there were a few good quotes worth sharing:

Quote: *”I wanted to help [...] so I wrote guides and gave presentations [...] but something was missing " ---> "the key was changing habits.”*

Quote: *”more than just making your work visible, you regularly frame what you're doing as a contribution and as a way to deepen relationships.”*

Paraphrase: *“We relate to our work based on how we approach the job, not WHAT the job is.”*
My own thoughts: Passion for a job is certainly real - this just means that passion isn't enough by itself. We also need a good method for turning our passions into reality.

<h3>Part Two: The Five Elements of Working Out Loud</h3>

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This is the meat of the book. Here John goes over the fundamental strategies that comprise the Working Out Loud method.

There were a few chapters that I skimmed, since they were aimed at people a bit earlier in the creator’s journey than myself. However, a lot of this was pure gold. Here are my favorite insights from part two:

<b>Ch. 4: Purposeful Discovery</b>

From my notes: The five elements of working out loud are: (1) purposeful discovery, (2) relationships, (3) generosity, (4) visible work, and (5) a growth mind-set.

Quote: *”Working out loud is most effective as a human process first and a technological one second.”*

<b>Ch. 5: Relationships</b>

From my notes: Your social network amplifies its commonalities - positive AND negative. For example, motivated people push each other to be even more ambitious - but lethargic groups do the opposite.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION FROM JOHN: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

Ferrazzi's four fundamentals of relationships: Generosity, Vulnerability, Candor, Accountability

Quote: *”As you build your social network, you're not trying to maximize your numbers of connections / deep relationships - a good network has both strong and weak ties.”* / my note: humans cluster into small groups that are fully interconnected, then each person loosely connects that group to other groups.

From my notes: I like the book's example of Nikolay Savvinov - a man who leads a group of “only” 400 people through his blog, but they're all database experts - i.e. the influencers of his industry. His influence is narrow but very powerful.

<b>Ch 6 - Leading With Generosity</b>

From my notes: Reciprocal altruism = our genetic drive to help others, which has been demonstrated scientifically.

Quoted in the book: *“I’ve consistently found that self-interest and other-interest are completely independent motivations; you can have both of them at the same time."* - Professor Adam Grant (from his book "Give and Take") — very interesting!!

Cool thing: This chapter challenges the reader to reach out to one person and  thank them for anything - so I sent a Facebook message to somebody who reviewed my band’s album two years ago, and he sent a pleasant response back a few hours later!


<b>Ch. 8 - A Growth Mindset</b>

From my Notes: The whole chapter can be summed up in one sentence: Focus on *getting better*, not on being good already. — This concept is simple, but extraordinarily powerful.

<h3>Part Three: Your Own Guided Mastery Program</h3>

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This part is all challenges that you actually have to do to see progress. John walks you through a “four level program”, with each level consisting of 3-4 chapters. You work through a series of tasks that teach you how to work out loud and develop new relationships.

I don’t want to regurgitate the challenges here - after all, it is a book that John is selling and he deserves to get some cash if you want all the info. I’d definitely recommend looking up the book and buying it if you enjoyed the insights from this post.

<h3>What do you think?</h3>

Did you learn something new from this post? How do you plan to apply the concept of “Working Out Loud” to your future Steem activities?

Also, let me know if you find this format useful - I’m thinking that I will do more posts like this for other books, especially if some Steemians are digging it. Your feedback helps me know what content is most valuable!

On that note, have a great and creative night. 

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