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10,000 Steps

Sometimes as an artist, there’s an inner voice inside that says “You’re not good at this. Everyone is so much better than you. You should just stop.”

Here’s the thing…

There’s a common misconception that the best artists in the world are talented. The truth is that the word ‘talent’ is not what they are at all. The word you’re looking for is skilled. 

Talent implies that they woke up with it one day and could magically draw or write. Talent implies that they were born with it, that they got it from their parents. That they didn’t spend thousands of dollars on an artistic education, or that they didn’t spend hours and hours poring over drawings, that they didn’t struggle for weeks over anatomy and construction and the very fundamentals, that they didn’t read books upon books about plot construction, and writing and grammar.

The truth is that whatever level of skill they have? They earned it.

Are you sad that you’re not as good as other artists or authors? Don’t be!

Think of artistic skill as a road- the same road. Sometimes our paths branch, and have little detours, but it’s all the same path. It’s all the same road. Each drawing you do, every animation you complete, every script you finish? That’s a couple of steps along that road.

And those artists you’ve admired for so long? They’re on the same road as you… just a little further along. They’re just about 10,000 steps ahead. At ten steps you may not feel like you’re any good. And it may feel like those wonderful artists are a million miles ahead. But keep going anyway. Don’t compare. Focus on one step at a time, focus on moving forward. Reach for that 10,000. Don’t just wish for it, work for it.

There is no secret, and no shortcut. Just hard work and the fact that the best artists never stopped. They got all the bad drawings out, they did the ugliest animations, they did the trashiest novels. The more they did, the less trashy their work became. They did the work.

Ignore the voice inside that tells you that you’re terrible. So you’re not that good. You’re not that good… but only for today. Tomorrow you will be better, and the day after that, you will be even better. Enough time will pass. 

Then, one day, when you’re far enough along that road, there will be young artists and writers at step 10, looking ahead where you’re standing. They’ll wonder how they will ever be as good as you. 

To be where those amazing artists are at, you have to do the things they have done. To get where they are at, you have to walk the path they have walked. That means you have to do the work.

So never stop. Do what you love. The more you do, the better you’ll get, the faster you’ll improve. Don’t listen to the critics, including the one inside your head. 

You aren’t as good as you want to be now, but if you keep going, some day you will be.