Ira Glass on building good taste and falling short

“We all go through phases where we know our work is not up to par, even though we are trying so hard to make it perfect.

Keep doing your work, keep focused, and don’t give up!”

^{— Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life}

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“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 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 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 it’s 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 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.”

— Ira Glass, host and producer of the radio program and podcast This American Life

Watch the 5-minute clip here 👇

I hope this inspired you as much as it did me.

Slightly Smarter isn’t where I want it to be yet… but we are getting more focused. This was a much needed reminder to keep building.

If you also needed to hear this, I’m pulling for you. Don’t give up!

— Scott

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