Ever feel overwhelmed at the gap of how good you are versus how good you want to be at something? A lot of people find themselves here and it’s a real mood killer. One minute you can find yourself gung-ho, incredibly ecstatic to give it your all and as you’re scouring for some extra info, ideas, or inspiration you come across someone who is doing something similar to you or what you want to accomplish… And, they’re doing it leaps and bounds better.
There in lies the problem. How do you aspire to do what they’re doing? How could you ever be as good? What secret do they have that you’re missing? Especially when you feel like the content you’re creating or the results you’re getting just aren’t that good…
If it wasn’t for listening to Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life, I would have never mustered up the courage to cross this gap of where I’m at, what I’m capable of, and what I see others create, do, and accomplish.
What Ira Glass taught me is…I have good taste. And, that lesson alone put a smile on my face. I have good taste.
That’s an undeniable truth. I appreciate and respect other’s work, their ability to create, to be creative, and to accomplish and showcase their results. I have good taste. And, so do you. Which is why we shouldn’t feel so discouraged or overwhelmed when we discover this gap.
Maybe you’re looking to create better content for your brand or maybe you’re wanting to achieve what you perceive to be success for your business. Either way, as long as you’re improving, your taste will also improve. Which means, you’ll see what others have accomplished and move the needle…you’ll create another gap; a gap between where you are and where you want to be. And, that’s okay.
Those two words alone let us know, we’re not alone in this type of journey, and the feeling we have when we see that gap between us and someone else is absolutely normal. That’s okay that we’re not there yet, that’s okay that we’re learning, that’s okay that we’re making content that’s not good, and that’s okay that we’re not getting all the results we want yet. It’s all absolutely normal on this journey.
But, what we must do, what there is no compromise for, is to do the work; to continue to make mistakes, have mediocre attempts, and create average content. And do all of this a lot, over and over again.
It is through this action that we’ll absolutely close that gap and realize there wasn’t a reason to compare ourselves into sadness in the first place. You have good taste, you’re not there yet, and that’s okay. But, maybe I should let Ira tell you like he told me all those years ago…
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me.
All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there is this gap. For the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not that good.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, 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. A lot of people never get past that phase. They quit.
Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.
And if you are just starting out or if 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. 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. It is only by going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.
I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It takes awhile. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.
-Ira Glass
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