The process of feeling proud of your creations.
There is nothing you know of now, that the creator thought it was good enough to share to the world when he first started. There’s always a process until you actually believe in your work.
For me there are three phases that I go through every time I start a creative process. When I don’t want anyone to know about what I’m working on — the secret phase — , when I’m actually happy with what I’m creating — the proud phase — , and when I’m ready to go through the process of sharing it with the world — the visibility phase — . They all have their struggles:
The secret phase
Either if you are a writer, a painter, programmer, designer, architect — we are all creators. And what we do, we don’t want it to be a secret, we want to share it to the world and make an impact.
Very little amount of people actually don’t want to share their talent to the rest, But this mostly happens because we think we aren’t good enough to be seen. And that is often true, we aren’t good enough, but if we don’t practice, share and are open to criticism, we will never improve and have that self-esteem needed to be proud of our work.
Once, a photographer said that your “first 10K photographs are going to be your worst” then, you will be able to call yourself a real photographer.
I don’t remember exactly who said this, but this can be translated to any discipline, not only photography. We are never experts in something when we’re starting. Everything is evolving too quickly that the only way to become great in something is to keep up and practice. And why am I saying this? Because everyone sucks when they start at something, and that is nothing to be ashamed of.
I’ve had an anonymous Tumblr account for years now, where I write my sort of poetry, and I still keep it a secret. Lately I haven’t had time to write in it, and that is why I still keep it a secret. I haven’t practiced enough to be proud of that work.
The proud phase
Once you’ve practiced enough, once you’ve fell and got up enough times, and learned from your mistakes, then, you’ll start feeling proud of your work, and proud to share it with the world. You will be more open to criticism — constructive criticism –, because you will also be able to defend your creations with bigger knowledge.
This is an incredible phase of ones’ creations, because you even feel more inspired to keep working on what you’re good at. You finally feel that you’re good at what you do. The stress you felt in the first phase is no longer there; that feeling of giving up thinking you’ll never be as good as someone else.
And that is a subject I would like to address: comparing yourself to others. This is a double-edged sword. As human beings, it is impossible to not compare ourselves with others, personally and professionally. So, what to do about it? Learn to not be affected by what others are doing, just get inspired by them or learn from their mistakes. We can choose to admire someone instead of being jealous by what they are creating. Everyone has their own pace; focus on yours.
The visibility phase
Now that you’re proud of your creations, then you’ll be proud to show it to the world; you will finally want visibility. But it’s not that easy. Nowadays, there is a lot of accessibility either to generate, share and consume content. So, how do we make it visible?
Some people say that visibility in the web is a lot easier because of accessibility — but there is also a lot more competition. Good creations are nothing without visibility. If nobody sees/appreciates it, does it really exist? — this could be a selfish thought but it’s true. To make an impact you need audience.
First things first. Know your audience. Who would you like to see your creations? Who will be sharing, buying, consuming your creations? You have to have a clear image as to whom is going to enjoy what you offer.
Then, where. In which platform will be best to share your content? Which one has more your-type-audience traffic? You have to research and compare the options to know which one fits best.
When. At what time will you be sharing? You have to know your audience too well to know at what time they are connected to the platform you’re using.
You have to fight for visibility.
A lot of people say that art (I consider any type of creation art), should not be monetized. It should be left there for appreciation, and if someone wants to pay for it, that is just a plus. But there is no crime of wanting to make a living off of what you love.
“Promotion and sustainability should not be part of your art, but should definitely be part of your process.”