You can't tell if your work is any good
You cannot tell whether your work is any good — one moment you think it fine, the next worthless, with no stable sense of its actual quality. The uncertainty unsettles you, leaving you unable to trust your own judgment of what you make, swinging between hope and despair about work you simply cannot see clearly.
This inability to judge your own work is not a flaw in you; it is the ordinary condition of every maker, and I can help you work with it. You are too close to your own work to judge it clearly — you know everything you intended and everything it cost, and so cannot see it fresh as another would, which makes your swinging verdicts unreliable, so hold them lightly rather than trusting them as accurate. Distance and trusted eyes give a truer view — set the work aside and return later when the heat of making has faded, and show it to a few people whose judgment you respect and who will be honest, for between the distance of time and the perspective of others you gain a truer sense than your too-close judgment allows. And do not let the not-knowing stop you from making — makers who wait until sure their work is good wait forever, since the certainty never comes, so make your peace with the uncertainty and keep creating regardless. The not-knowing is normal and bearable. What work are you unable to judge?
What changes unlock by starting
- You see you're too close to judge your own work clearly
- You hold your swinging verdicts lightly
- You use distance and trusted eyes for a truer view
- You keep making despite the permanent not-knowing