Your Best Work is Whatever You’re Creating Now
Maybe this perspective is the push you need
“The useless days will add up to something…These things are your becoming.” — Cheryl Strayed
Whatever you’re writing, right now, is your best work.
Wanna know why?
Because your present work is always forming and defining you.
You are a walking, living, evolving time capsule.
Meaning, your mind archives what you’re creating, doing, and experiencing.
While it’s true that your memory can and will fade, it doesn’t change who you are becoming.
This is why it’s imperative to keep creating and publishing your work. Despite the feeling that it might not be ready.
Or despite you believing its not up to par with your previous works.
Whatever you create is shaping you, providing context, and keeping you honest.
Below, are a few good reasons why your current article, project, or piece of content is your best work. Regardless of how you feel about it.
Stop hesitating and start shipping
Everyone loves a great pause, in literature and art. But sometimes, it’s not necessary.
Especially, if that’s your default setting.
The truth is, your work will never feel complete if you hesitate.
If you fear failure, you will fear it, no matter how great you feel about the work you produce.
Whether you know it or not, your writing, your good (and bad) work— and the act of creating have created you.
This is why failure, in art and entrepreneurship, really isn’t a death kiss. It’s actually, perhaps the best thing for you as you develop into a more seasoned creator.
As entrepreneur David Shands of the lifestyle brand Sleep is 4 Suckers says, “if you knew it took you four times to fail to get to your dream, you would hurry up and fail.”
It took David nearly 10 years to reach his desired level of success. And if you ask him, none of those years were wasted.
So, if you write 1,000 articles and say, 25% of them are good, all of them were necessary.
All of them were your best work, at the moment. Because that’s what you could do.
While it might not have been your best idea or even the best execution of it, it was what you needed to create to become the fully realized version of yourself right now.
The true art is creating the life you want
This doesn’t mean you just create and ignore everything. It’s about creating, filtering the feedback, and iterating to create better.
While this may not truly be the best article I’ve ever written, it will shape me, even in the smallest way to write better ones in the future.
The same goes for you if you keep writing or creating or taking action on whatever it is.
If you keep writing and publishing your best work, you will have more context on the subject matter. You will have a more distinct and defined writing voice.
And perhaps, more importantly, you will have built up your writing confidence.
Many writers believe they need to feel confident before writing. But on the contrary, action precedes confidence.
Part of what makes your favorite writers compelling is their ability to seemingly write without fear.
People who push through the invisible limitations of their own minds and others are seen as rare and otherworldly.
When really, it all boils down to their decisions to become an active participant in the creation of their lives.
You want to be one of these people, and you can, but it takes intentional action.
One last thought
Never allow waiting to become a habit. Live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now. — Paulo Coelho
You cannot afford to wait on stars to align to start. You must get busy with your creative hustle. If you don’t, you will inevitably build a habit of waiting. Waiting until the time is right. Waiting until you feel inspired. Waiting until your conditions are perfect.
Remember, the goal is to never write 1,000 perfect articles. The goal is to become a writer, an artist, an entrepreneur, against all odds.
As a working creative and budding business owner — because you are in ownership of yourself — one of the greatest skills to build is adaptability.
But you don’t get there by having everything go perfectly. You don’t become a great writer with ease.
You do so by allowing your present work to shape you into the writer you want to be.
The next time you judge your work, remember this to push yourself: You need to create in order to become.
Therefore, this work is your best and most important, at this moment.
