4 ms·

i liked the article from an artists perspective. I resonate a lot with the "your tastes are better than your skill level". I have music i write which i think

i liked the article from an artists perspective. I resonate a lot with the "your tastes are better than your skill level". I have music i write which i think sections of punch right up there with the pros. But not all of them do. And i have fooled myself into thinking i have ALL the skills required to roll with the pros before. It's humbling - but i fully endorse the "perfectionism isnt your problem" idea. Technology has advanced so far, and the possibilities, and permutations of ideas is endless. Just like coming up with a theory as grond breaking as the theory of relativity is super hard, so is coming up with really novel new art....we have so many examples of it - and so much in high quality - the bar is high. A parallel issue is societies obsession with "shipping"...specifically speaking of music/art - i remember 15+ years ago, folks working a lot longer on music before it saw the light of day - folks are very happy to show off loops on tiktok...and - the results in finished music equate to half finished/underbaked music which everyone is patting each other on the back over. Nice post.

tstrimple 3y ago
This reminds me of the a quote by Ira Glass which resonates strongly with my experience. > “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.” There's a certain amount of anxiety and sense of defeat when you can clearly see what it is you want to create but don't yet have the skills to execute that vision. It can be very demoralizing to build a shitty app when you can recognize that it's a shitty app and you know much better is possible but don't yet know how to close the gap.
- an_aparallel 3y ago
  I love that quote - it's the original quote i read which reminded me to shake off the "dont worry about being a perfectionist" idea in the first place.

tstrimple 3y ago

This reminds me of the a quote by Ira Glass which resonates strongly with my experience. > “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.” There's a certain amount of anxiety and sense of defeat when you can clearly see what it is you want to create but don't yet have the skills to execute that vision. It can be very demoralizing to build a shitty app when you can recognize that it's a shitty app and you know much better is possible but don't yet know how to close the gap.

an_aparallel 3y ago
I love that quote - it's the original quote i read which reminded me to shake off the "dont worry about being a perfectionist" idea in the first place.