Work That Matches Our Ambition
Work That Matches Our Ambition
Work That Matches Our Ambition was written on January 27, 2023. It is the second of five popular essays from 2023’s Thin Slices, a subscriber-only segment of the Wiley Weekly Newsletter.
Each essay was first available to Wiley subscribers. You can subscribe to the Wiley Subscription for access to all essays here.
What does it mean to create work that matches your ambitions?
Ira Glass, host and executive producer of This American Life, recently prompted this question when he described his struggle to create something noteworthy.
He begins by sharing, “All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But, it’s like there is this gap. For the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good. It has ambition to be good, but it’s not that good.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase. They quit.”
They quit.
End scene.
El fin.
He continues, “Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work went through years when they had really good taste, and they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.
And if you are just starting out, or if you are still in this phase, you’ve got to know it’s normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.
I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It takes awhile. It’s going to take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.”
If you find yourself in this gap, the messy middle between entering the game and not yet creating work that matches your truest ambitions, I strongly encourage you to stay the path. The time will come when the work you create will be noteworthy. The time will come when the work you’re creating will match the truest representation of your mind and most sincere voice of your heart.
Photo by: Emily Ferretti