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

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What all of these examples have in common is that the former require less activation energy, feel good immediately, and feel crappy later on. The latter require more work up front, feel not so great immediately, and feel wonderful later on.

Throughout our upbringing and our time in the educational system, we are taught that an expenditure of effort leads to an immediate reward.. The issue is that this chain breaks down when we want to walk our own paths. When you direct your attention to your personal curiosities, there’s no immediate reason for society to value that. Society only... See more