Don’t be shy to be proud
You would rarely hear the creatives saying something like “look at my latest work! I think it’s one of my best works so far”. I can confirm that I told that only once in an extended period of time and very recently after I published a very first article in my life and was absolutely proud of it. But why it is so?
We are all a little shy about our work
Displaying our work to the public (or even one person) makes us vulnerable. Most of the time it makes me nervous or even scared sometimes. At that time I start to panic, and I think that everything that I did is absolute nonsense and it’s not acceptable that others will see that and will associate my lousy work with me. I know that it sounds dramatic, but it’s really hard sometimes to be realistic when you are about to show your work to someone, and I think you might relate to that. It is, without a doubt, a very long way to become self-confident about what you do even if you know that it can be done better.
But why is that scary?
You will be judged, and it’s an uncomfortable feeling.
But you know what? People will judge you even if you don’t show off. We are living in the age when people judge other people by their looks and get to swipe it to like or dislike side which might seem ridiculous but that’s the way it works now. If we talk about the creative field, we are browsing Dribbble, Behance, Vimeo or some other platforms to see what other creatives do. And yes, we judge all that stuff ourselves and just like with swiping to the sides we tick the boxes in our minds if we like some particular work that we see.
Judgement is not always just a bad thing. And to be honest, I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. Judgment might transform to feedback and feedback is the best thing that you can get!
“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”
– Bill Gates
Of course, we can improve by working and spending time on what we want to get good at. But the thing is that after some time you get used to your work, and you can’t see what might be improved. That’s where feedback is priceless. And you have to aim for that! But the problem is that if you don’t show your work, you won’t get any feedback.
You might be afraid of spooky “I don’t like it” phrase. Nobody wants to hear that about their work. But to get it clear, there is stuff that you don’t like yourself so it is very possible that someone won’t like your work either and you should not get all sad about that. And even more, it should not stop you from showing more and be proud even more.
You will never be ready
I noticed that the more experience I get in the field, the more I understand how much I still need to learn. Ant that’s the process of getting better so let’s embrace that sometimes messy process with maybe not the best works in the design history, but the best ones for that moment.
Perfectionism is the dangerous thing when we are talking about showing your work. It might be one of those reasons why you are not self-confident about your work because it can always be better. Of course, it can be, but it can also become the endless process. As Justas writes in his book about building your design audience “Perfectionism is a number one thing that stops you from rapid growth and skill improvement.” So, just get over it at least sometimes.
Be proud (at least sometimes)
You know that if you will keep saying that your work is not good enough, it’s not finished, the font could look better, the colours are not adjusted, the composition is a bit weird, it should be polished more, after some time people will look at all your work as you present it — an average. You get what you ask for so be aware of what you are asking.
If you think that you made something great, show it and be proud of it! It feels damn good! And at this point, all you can do is absorb and use all the valuable feedback, ignore useless comments, accept the compliments and just get better at what you do. Don’t be shy. That’s all it takes.
And now, when I am done here, I am about to publish this and spam people to read it because it’s my second article ever and It’s a big deal, and I am proud of it! Bam!
