When you feel your creative work isn't good enough

[@DanFox]

Do you have any tactics to share that you use to combat moments where you are feeling inadequate? Sound off in the comments below. I’d love to hear them! 👇

[@PeterSamuels_SF]

Thank you, Dan, no matter how old this video is, it’s timeless and invaluable.

[@beyondallreason-du4pq]

You are right...adding on to what you said What I tell myself that me and my work are not the same because I COULDN'T EXACTLY CREATE WHATS IN. MY HEAD AS IT IS BUT ONLY 40PERCENT OF IT...therefore I am creative...it just wasn't going to materialize in this world exactly how I want it..at least not yet

[@harmanhamiltonadventures3788]

Thanks for sharing your processes. I've been through all those phases at one time or another, but it's good to hear from someone else - especially someone who has climbed way further up the mountain than I have. My mantra of late to fight off destructive negativism is: "I refuse to BELIEVE than I am nearly as bad as I THINK I am." If we didn't have at least some feelings of inadequacy, then we would settle for our mediocrity and fail to keep pushing for something better. One of my sons is a pianist, and all we ever hear from him is bad music. He works through the mistakes over and over again until he has mastered the right stuff. Then he goes on to the next bad part. It's only when the actual performance comes (or in our case, the occasional feedback or sale) that all the good stuff comes together. In the book "Art and Fear - Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Art Making" by Bayles and Orland, the authors suggest something to effect that the task of the artist is NOT to make a masterpiece, but rather to make as many mistakes as possible in the shortest time possible so that one can get beyond distractions of technique and get closer to finding your true voice or vision. Those are the most valuable and practical words of advice I ever learned in my own odyssey.

[@orkbluefin]

I find it interesting that you mentioned comparing down because that has been extremely helpful for me, and I didn't know it technically had a name. Comparing upward gives me direction and inspiration while downward helps keep me from wallowing in self pity. I appreciate your tips.

[@TheESLDoctor]

Not sure I have any tactics, but I start off by guilt tripping myself into doing it and eventually I just do it and realize it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was

[@DanFox]

+TheESLDoctor it's definitely wild how we can make things worse in our head! 🤣

[@headsauce]

I totally keep a record of the nice things! great tip

[@DanFox]

Sounds like you're better at remembering to do that than I am! 🤣

[@thisjourneycalledlife5957]

That’s exactly how I feel currently. I feel like my work isn’t good enough. Me and another photographer posted photos from shows we did and the bands posted the other photographers photos in their page post so I’m figuring my work isn’t worth it. How do I not get buried in my burdens ? Because it absolutely sucks

[@DanFox]

I think this is where a measure of self control comes in, at least from my experience. We need to guard against reading into other people's actions particularly when we're using them as gauges of ourselves. We're not mind readers, you know? And assuming the intentions of other turns into a slippery slope real quick. Remember, worry about what you can control. If the band came to you and said, "we didn't pick your images for x, y, and z reasons," then you'd have concrete information. But they could have 150 reasons for choosing as they did, and probably almost all (if not all) of them had nothing to do with you.

[@viciswho]

Love the video man. The concept of negative visualization is something that has never occurred to me. Definitely better to be present and seeing why and what would come out of a negative thought. But fire video, new subscriber here !💯

[@DanFox]

Appreciate it, man! And yeah, it's tough to address a problem if you can't first diagnose it 💯

[@ittakestime.official]

Hey Dan, I come with a small suggestion. Did you heard about the book "GAIN AND THE GAP - Dan Sullivan"? Is a book that covers this topic of anxiety and why often people who have big objectives fail and are full of anxiety. I think is a new approach to how we should look to things. First we should have an objective to reach. The GAP means the work and time until we reach that objective. The GAIN is every day of work that we put towards that objective. BUT the big difference is that instead of looking forward to your objective(the GAP) you should always look in the past, at the GAIN and see what you've accomplished. Like that you will see the hard work and results that you've accomplished and see that you are indeed working to reduce the GAP to your objective. Have a look over it and if you have time tell me what you think :D

[@DanFox]

Thanks for the suggestion! I haven't read that book because every other book I've read by Benjamin Hardy has been a waste of time so I skipped that one 🤣 May have to check it out, though.

[@andystiller3793]

Fantastic video. Thank you for sharing your techniques. My version of "comparing down" is to look at my oldest photos. I can see how terrible they were.

[@DanFox]

Mine, too. Some of my early stuff is downright embarrassing lol

[@luisfaustino]

Just watched a few videos in your channel and I hope you keep going, definitely its helping me.

[@DanFox]

Glad to hear that! I have no plans for stopping anytime soon, though I am taking a little "video creation break" due to a bunch of "life-change" kind of stuff including a rather tedious move so everything is packed away. I should be back at it soon, though!

[@luisfaustino]

@@DanFox take it ez

[@ItalianoConRaff]

Thank you so much. That was very inspiring🙂

[@DanFox]

Glad to hear it!

[@0123456789jad]

that was very inspiring , thank you 😊

[@DanFox]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johannortner4193]

Thanks!

[@DanFox]

Thanks so much, Johann!

[@IIIlllIIllIlIl]

Found your channel from the ISO video. The videos are actually on par with the big channels that I just noticed you have a very low sub count. I think you just got unlucky with the algorithm.

[@DanFox]

I appreciate it, John! I don't really focus on the numbers too much. Learned that lesson early on lol. That said, I didn't really start in earnest until early last year so I'm just chalking it up to things needing time. Plus, I don't focus on clickbait stuff which probably hurts me but that's not my style so I wouldn't feel good about it anyway.