Start From Somewhere

Most people say, "You are your worst critic". But that's not true. The future YOU is your worst critic.

See, we all have to start from somewhere. All it takes is a simple idea, a vision, and once you give it some momentum there's no telling what you can do.

Nobody wakes up one morning being a master at their craft. Michael Jordan didn't just wake up being one of the greatest basketball players of all time without actually practicing and building up his skills. Steve Jobs didn't just magically create one of the most successful multinational tech companies in the world. Donald Trump didn't just become President by....wait, actually...yeah that's a horrible example. Sorry about that, but you get the point! It takes time, practice, and dedication to truly develop and reach a level of mastery.

It's funny how I look back and see the previous works I've done and think to myself, "How in the world did I EVER think that was actually good?" Take this shot to the left of my great friend Sheila. She was kind enough to help me do my very first photo shoot when I bought my first camera 8 years ago. Now she's flawless in beauty but the disaster here comes from this horrendous editing job. The colors, the shadowing, the contrast, it's just painful to even look at. It's so bad that I can't help but just laugh. Then cry. Then laugh again. Laugh because back when I did it I thought it was incredible stuff. Mind blowing! Game changing! I could hear the people telling me, "Angel, this is stunning work!" I actually thought it could be admired upon. Way off!

Now in my defense, not all the shots of this day came out this bad. Allow me to redeem myself with one of my favorite shots from that session.

OK, now I feel better about myself again. Moving on.

The future YOU is your worst critic. But then again, the future you also reveals how far you've come.

Say it with me, "Progress." That's what life is all about.

It's what you should strive for.

It means you've learned a thing or two over there years.

It means you've gotten over those barriers that you thought would detain you forever.

It means you've actually done something more than stay put and you are now better than the person you use to be.

And you may think some people may be progressing faster than you, but the only competition in this life is yourself, not anyone else. This isn’t a sprinting race, it’s a marathon. So even if you feel like you’re moving slower than others, focus on the fact that you’re are STILL MOVING FORWARD!

Years later, Sheila still being a great friend and not realizing how bad her first pictures came out (she probably did she was just too nice to tell me) asked if I could take some shots to make Christmas cards of her and her famous Boston Terrier, Pepper. (Honestly, she's famous. Pepper has more Instagram followers than me, check her out)https://www.instagram.com/peppered_with_love/

She is a pretty cool dog.

Now, I'm not saying I've perfected my art and I'm a master photographer. Very far from it. Every day I'm still learning something to improve on, but I’ve seen the difference in my work between then and now.

I'll say it again though, it didn't happen overnight.

Whatever your craft is, your trade, your awesome hobby that you can't stop doing, whatever you’re are working on now in your life, whether it’s finishing school, creating your own business or just fixing certain things in your life, remember to have patience and remain persistent with it. If it's something you truly have a passion for, tend it like a delicate garden, show it love, and then give it time to blossom. If you feel as if you haven’t made much progress in your life, then start RIGHT NOW! Take that first step and make a change!

We get too comfortable living the average life and we tend to think that it’s easier to remain average instead of breaking out and embracing our full potential. I’m sure if you look back at the beginning of the year there’s things that you wished you would’ve started then. Stop wishing, start working for it! Just imagine the life you could be living right now if you had only decided to take action. What if every decision you made from this moment forward was one that took you in the direction of your dreams. Not sideways, not backwards, but forward. The road to success is never an easy one but it's well worth taking!

And along the way you'll create some cool stuff and have great success but you’ll also probably have plenty of failures to go along with it , but be happy you went through those failures, be proud of that lame work you did because if it wasn't for that you probably wouldn't be where you are now. Currently making awesome progress that the future you might possibly criticize and say "How in the world did I EVER think that was actually good?"

We all have to start from somewhere All it takes is a simple idea, a vision, and once you give it some momentum there's no telling what you can do.

#Start #Learn #Progress