Quality Work Takes Time

Nobody – not even the prodigies – awakes one morning and finds that they’re capable of doing quality work. The prodigies may have a head start with talent, but every one – every one – has to put in time and effort. They have to do the work, and they have to do it with love, attention, and consistency.

They have to do that because, as Ira Glass says:

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…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 it’s normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work…It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap…It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

You have to put in the time. You have to show up to do the work, and you have to work at it with all your might even on the days you don’t “feel” like it. Don’t fall for the lie that you should wait for the muse. The muse, inspiration, or whatever you call it isn’t going to visit if you’re not working. Inspiration comes while you’re working. You have to do the work despite how you feel. You declare, “This is Sparta!” and you get to the work, the hard work, the work that you won’t ever show anyone. You cry and you even whine, but you get through it. You fight because you know that quality work takes time, and you have decided that that is what you want to create, that is what you are called to pursue.

Image: mpclemens (Creative Commons)