<aside> 🚪 A little something about bridging the gap by Ira Glass.
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Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me… is that all of us who do creative work, like, y’know we get into it because we have good taste. But it's like there’s a gap. That for the first couple years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't so good, Okay? It’s not that great.
It’s trying to be good, it has the ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you're making is kind of a disappointment to you, y’know what I mean? A lot of people never get past that phase and a lot of people at that point they quit.
And the thing I would just like to say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, they could tell that what they were making wasn't as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. It didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have and the thing I would say to you is… Everybody goes through that.
And for you to go through it, if you are going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase you’ve gotta know it’s totally normal and the most important possible thing you can do. is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you're going to finish one story. Because it’s only by going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And [your] the work you're making will be as good as your ambitions.
In my case, I took longer to figure out how to do this than anybody I’ve ever met. It takes a while. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that. Okay?
Ira Glass
Ira Glass, This American Life - Gothamist
Ira Glass and What Every Successful Person Knows, But Never Says
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