Ed Catmull, president of Pixar, says that, "Early on, all of our movies suck."
J.R.R. Tolkien didn't have the eponymous ring in his first drafts of Lord of The Rings — it took multiple revisions for him to land on this idea.
Ernest Hemingway wrote the ending of A Farewell To Arms thirty-nine times before he was satisfied.
And yet, when you are working on something, you hold yourself to an impossible standard:
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You believe that if your first draft isn't perfect, you should throw it away.
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You believe that if you can't match the vision in your head to the product in front of you right away, then you'll never be able to do it.
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You believe that if you can't figure it out immediately, you should just quit and never try again.
Know this: You are not supposed to be great at the beginning. If you set that as an expectation for yourself, you will never be able to fulfill your true potential, because true potential is something that you unfold through time, love, presence, energy, curiosity, and effort.
The next time you feel frustrated with your progress, say to yourself: "I'm just getting started and I'm going to keep going. I can't wait to see what I'm able to make."