You have a brilliant idea and finally you found the time to execute it. After hours of fulfilling but exhaustive work, you’re finished, and it turns out the idea sucks. Not only does it suck – it’s awful. Embarrassing. What were you even thinking in the first place?

We’d argue this phenomenon is the real reason producing creative work in any medium is difficult. To quote Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The mind in creation is as a fading coal.” Shelley’s assertion is that an idea is hottest at the point of conception. By the time you’ve acted on it and created something, your idea has begun to fade, meaning whatever you produce is going to be a dull afterimage of what your consciousness envisioned. It’s just the way the brain works. Blame the human condition. Shelley did. While talent certainly comes into play here – certain minds conceive of ideas so brilliant their “faded coal” looks like others’ most inspired idea – it’s still something everyone has to deal with.

The difference, at least the one you have control over, is you can learn to let your creation exist and not squelch it before it develops. You don’t have to put it out into the world just yet. It will need time to grow. Maybe a lot of time. But don’t trash it because it failed to live up to expectations.

This is where discipline comes into play. Every creative person suffers from “analysis paralysis.” The type of critical thinking skills required to produce something original go hand-in-hand with deep analytical skills. Get comfortable with the notion that 95% of what you produce will be total crap that requires time to hone, experiment, and improve. (Good thing you’ve implemented a solid routine to work every day to improve your work.) If you expect your idea to shine in the world as brilliantly as it did in your mind, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Every. Single. Time.