I received this comment on a Tiktok video I posted and it really broke my heart.

I compare my creative abilities to other people all the time. I think we all do and it’s really hard not to. When we compare ourselves to others, we (for some reason) don’t look at the entire journey that this person went through. We only focus on the end result. It takes many years of practice to get good and it is really important that in the beginning, you allow yourself to learn and create purely for enjoyment. It is equally important to remember that at the start of your creative journey, everything should also be about building creative habits, not about making works of art. 

Between 2016-2018 I didn’t make a single thing. It was around my 27th birthday when I recognized that If I didn’t start making stuff now, I was never going to be an artist. So that week I decided to do 100 days of graphic design tutorials. It’s not what I made or learned during that 100 days that’s important, it’s that I mastered the skill of showing up and practicing every single day. 

When establishing a creative habit, it is my opinion that you should start small. If you want to improve your drawing, you draw every morning for 5 minutes. If you want to learn photography, you shoot one photo every day. If you set a goal for yourself like, “make a 15-second video every day and post it” when you don’t have creative habits built into your life, there is a very good possibility you will not make it past day 8. 

Do not take on an ambitious challenge. Start small. In the beginning, it’s about bringing creativity into your life, not mastering a craft. Let enjoyment be the main goal where you are improving your every day, not racing to the top.

When I come across comments like the one on my video, they really bother me because I don’t like it when someone thinks they are not capable. It also bothers me when people think you have to be “nAtUralLeY tAl3NtEd” because that is not true. Creativity is a muscle you can build through establishing creative habits. It’s not that I am more or less creative or talented than someone else, it’s that I have established more routines and a creative lifestyle which has enabled me to practice more often, learn, and also experiment. 

I truly believe that everyone is capable and that enjoyment should be the main goal. Then if you want to improve, you need patience, passion, and absolute devotion. Build creative habits by starting small, one thing every day, and improve from there.