The Gap
That feeling when your work isn't as good as you know it could be? Yeah, let's talk about that.
From a YouTube rabbit hole — Ira Glass, This American Life
That feeling when your work isn't as good as you know it could be? Yeah, let's talk about that.
From a YouTube rabbit hole — Ira Glass, This American Life
You know what great looks like. You can tell the difference between "meh" and "wow."
That's probably why you got into this work in the first place. Something about it called to you.
There's this gap. What you're making isn't quite there yet. It's trying to be good. But it's... not.
The thing that got you into this — your good taste — is now the thing making you feel like crap about your own work.
"Your taste is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell what you're making is kind of a disappointment to you."
You finish something and you're like... "ugh, that wasn't what I had in my head."
The gap feels too wide. The disappointment is too much.
"Maybe I'm just not cut out for this."
But here's the thing nobody tells you:
Literally everyone doing interesting work went through years of knowing their stuff wasn't as good as they wanted it to be.
It's normal. And there's only one way through:
Like, a lot. Quantity leads to quality.
Finish things. Ship them. Move on to the next one.
It takes a while. That's fine. Keep going anyway.
I feel this constantly working in AI.
I love it. I'm always learning — new models, new tools, building stuff, breaking stuff. But the things I make? They're not where I want them to be. Not yet.
I see people shipping amazing AI work. I know what great looks like. And I know I'm not there.
That used to really bother me. Now I get it — that's just the process.
The gap closes through volume. Every thing you ship, you get a little better. Eventually your skills catch up to your taste.
"You just have to fight your way through."
— Ira Glass