Do you like your own work?
Oh, hi friends!
You know it when you feel it.
When I’m watching a show, play, or musical, I know when within the first few minutes if this is for me. I feel it. Whatever the blend of words or style or tone or acting or all of the above — something strikes my heart and I think, Yes.
Same thing goes for reading a novel or listening to a podcast or watching a speech. I can feel something: Yes. This is for me. More, please.
You have the same reactions too, right? Either: Yes, more. (Or, the inverse: Uhh, no, what?)
This is important to remember when you’re making something new.
Some people will have the “Yes” reaction to your work. Other people won’t.
But the goal is to find the people who are more likely to say “Yes.” And we find them by making the work as good as it can possibly be. By not trying to turn a “No” into a “Yes.” And through one other way:
You have to create work that would make you say Yes.
If you know it when you feel it, then you should feel it for whatever you’re making.
It’s a basic question: Would you enjoy the song you composed? Would you buy the novel you’re writing? Would you laugh at your tweet?
Do they cue the response, Yes?
Because they should.
You have to say yes to yourself before anyone else will.
“I’m almost fifty, and I’m mostly amazed by these things now. However, I know this about myself: I finish things. Most people can’t start things or most people can’t finish things, but if you can start something and finish something, you’re going to be fine. As for status, riches, fame, and splendor? Those are out of reach for everybody. If any of those elements happens at some point, then you kind of look at it for what it is. I think good health is very important. I think being kind is very important. That doesn’t sound like a writer; sorry.”
A wonderful few-years-old interview with Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko.
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
You can also support my work by checking out my motivational journal, Do It For Yourself, designed to guide you through your creative and work projects, and my upcoming journal Do It Today, which encourages you to find time for the things that matter most to you.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara