There’s a gap that often exists between the objective quality of our work, and our subjective valuation of it.

The gap can exist in one of two directions.

On the one hand, we perceive our work to be better than it really is.

On the other, we perceive it to be worse.

These positions aren’t fixed for life. We can and do vacillate between the two, sometimes on a daily basis.

In either case, our job is to close the gap.

When our opinion of our work is that it’s better than it is in reality, we close the gap by improving our skills, knowledge, and taste.

When our work is in fact better than we believe it to be, we close the gap by improving our mindset, confidence, and self-worth.

In both cases, the greatest challenge is not in doing the work to close the gap, but in recognizing it in the first place.

This requires us to take a cool-headed, rational assessment of the work we’ve produced so far, and then decide where we need to go to reach the next level.

Peers, mentors, and accountability partners can be useful mirrors to see ourselves more clearly.

But ultimately, we need to be the ones to own our gap and do the work to close it.

---