Potential

5/3/2016

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told

me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good

taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s

just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But

your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your

taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this

phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work

went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special

thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just

starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and

the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on

a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going

through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will

be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do

this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take

awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

– Ira Glass

Photographer Unknown