10 Lessons From Steal Like an Artist That Transformed My Creativity

08 Nov 2025 #books

The title itself is provocative: Steal Like an Artist. Stealing is bad. But “like an artist”?

Does it mean all artists steal? The whole point of stealing is not getting caught. Then what are artists doing to steal differently? Those are questions I asked just by reading this book’s title.

After sitting on my desk for a while, I finally read it. Here are 10 lessons I learned:

#1. Learning is copying. First learn who to copy, then learn what to copy. Once you’ve chosen who to copy, trace their influences too.

#2. If you copy from one person, it’s stealing. But if you copy multiple, it’s inspiration. Creativity is using inspiration to come up with something that doesn’t look stolen.

#3. “There’s nothing under the sun.” This is the author quoting a passage from the Bible. If there wasn’t any new 2,000 years ago, that feels like permission to copy.

If you think it’s new, it’s because you don’t know the original source.

#4. Creativity is subtraction. Creativity isn’t only inventing. It’s also remixing existing ideas and leaving things out to make them new. This reminds me of Idea Calculus from Skip the Line.

#5. Hands first, then computer. With a computer, the line between writing and editing is blurry. A computer wakes up the perfectionist inside us. Go analog to separate creating from critiquing.

In my own writing, I’m adopting this idea for my next books: outline first with index cards, then write on a computer, and then print out the draft to edit on paper.

#6. Use a calendar and deadlines. Work expands to the time available. Use deadlines to focus and to avoid procrastination and perfectionism. Done is better than perfect, perpetually unfinished.

#7. “You’re as good as your last post.” This is an invitation to keep working on your creative side. Don’t be a one-hit wonder.

I was about to write “keep showing up,” but I remember I ditched that line.

#8. Have a victories folder. Every time anything good happens with your art, take a screenshot, and save it for later. I screenshot comments, hit posts, follower count, dashboard with sales…Anything inspiring. This comes in handy when you feel like giving up or facing haters.

#9. Routine over time. The other day, I watched an interview of Steven Pressfield in the Huberman Lab. Steven said he only writes for ~2 hours a day. If a pro writer only writes 2 hours, you don’t need to quit your day job. Build discipline and a routine first.

#10. Keep your day job. It takes time to live off your art. Have something that doesn’t deplete your energy to pay the bills. The time to quit will come later.

This book made me rethink creativity. But it also made me rethink the concept of a book. Steal Like an Artist isn’t a 50,000-word volume on creativity. It’s a collection of 10 big ideas, presented with clear examples and eye-grabbing doodles and visuals. That already feels like permission to steal, remix, and create today.