One of my Mastermind group shared a link today to an article that hit home: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/your-money/free-yourself-of-your-harshest-critic-and-plow-ahead.html?_r=0. It’s by Carl Richards, aka Sketch Guy at the New York Times. He puts out a sketch and essay every week, knowing every time they’re going to be seen by millions of people, all of whom are likely to have an opinion on them.
People don’t read my stuff in their millions. (Not yet.) And yet I spend SO much time and energy fretting about not getting things right, about being judged and found lacking. It stops me getting stuff done, and it robs me of some of the joy and satisfaction when I do get stuff out there. You too? Then have a read of this:
‘…your job now officially has nothing to do with deciding if the work is good. Your job is to do the work, put it out there and let the world decide. Now, I know that sounds scary. But let’s be dead clear about something: You’re not John Steinbeck (and neither was he, at the start). You have to get there first. And the only way to do that is through practice and criticism. But the only way to get practice and criticism is to make and share your work…
Think of how liberating it would be to free yourself from the role of being your own harshest critic. What might you achieve? What work would you put out there for the world to see?
What might happen if you took all the energy that goes in to judging your work and put it right back into the wellspring of creating the work instead?’