It's a tricky game because you do need to be aware of best practices, what works, what doesn't, etc - that's how you grow and learn to stand out.

But at the same time, you always need to return to the question:

"Why do I create? What do I create for?"

And of all the answers that arise, understand your primary and secondary reasons.

For me, primary

I cannot imagine a world where I do not spend my whole life working. Work is perhaps the closest thing to a universal language that I know. This constant, heavy pressure that I should always be working is in control of where I focus my life, who I spend my time with, what I spend my time on. And I cannot imagine a freedom in no longer working

Success How shall we measure success? It isn’t popularity, money, or critical esteem. Success occurs in the privacy of the soul. It comes in the moment you decide to release the work, before exposure to a single opinion. When you’ve done all you can to bring out the work’s greatest potential. When you’re pleased and ready to let go.