"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I
wish someone had 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 all 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 that it's
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 finish one piece. It's 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 this out than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take a while. It's
normal to take awhile. You just
gotta fight your way through."
Ira Glass
