1KHO 815: Stop Looking For Instructions | Austin Kleon, Don't Call It Art

The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Ginny Yurich

Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We are drowning in advice and somehow more unsure of ourselves than ever. Austin Kleon returns to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast to talk about creativity, childhood, boredom, trust, and why the people who build meaningful lives often stop looking for instructions and start paying attention to what fascinates them. Drawing from his new book Don't Call It Art, Austin shares how his children taught him more about curiosity, imagination, and meaningful work than any creative writing class ever could. Ginny and Austin talk about John Holt, unschooling, screen culture, creative courage, and the surprising freedom that comes when you stop trying to control the future and start paying attention to what is right in front of you. This episode is a refreshing reminder that a fulfilling life is rarely built by following someone else's map. It grows from curiosity, wonder, and the willingness to see where the next step leads. Get your copy of Don't Call it Art here ! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Attention all passengers.
0:04.0	The Uber ride for Mark and Jamal's romantic weekend
0:07.0	will depart in four minutes from Platform 6.
0:10.0	Your ride comes with a rolling countryside sunset view
0:14.0	and a table seat ideal for playing footsie beneath.
0:17.0	Thank you for booking your tickets on Uber. Trains on Uber. Welcome to the 1000
0:24.5	Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Urge, I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside, and I can
0:28.6	hardly believe it. Back for the third time, Austin Cleon. Welcome. Thank you for having me again.
0:35.4	I thought about you so much when I was writing this book.
0:38.2	And so like when we were talking, I was like, I got to get Jenny in this book. So I'm very excited.
0:43.1	I'm very excited. I loved it. I told you before we kicked off, I was going back through my notes.
0:47.6	I often have a lot of notes. And I started to like have a second set of notes.
0:53.4	You got notes for your notes?
0:55.3	Yes.
0:56.4	Sometimes I'm like I missed the high points or the part I really wanted to talk about.
1:00.0	So as I was going through to make my notes on my notes,
1:02.4	I was getting emotional about how much I love this new book of yours.
1:06.3	It is called Don't Call It Art.
1:08.9	And I remember you told me about it the last time we spoke and I thought,
1:12.6	oh my goodness, it's just a brilliant concept. You know, we put so much pressure on ourselves to perform
1:17.8	and you say 10 ways to create like a kid again. That's the premise of the book. It's very similar
1:22.2	sort of in size and scope, although this one is hardcover and it's hot pink or magenta.
	...

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