Text:

The Gap by Ira Glass

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.

And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.

And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

中英双语播客 “Drew哥Translate” is a bilingual podcast that shares articles and stories in both English and Mandarin.

Find out more at andrewzhan.com/podcast

Follow Andrew on Instagram @andrewzhan

Music:

Back To The Cool - M Thurtell

First Smile - M Andasun

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Text:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

中英双语播客 “Drew哥Translate” is a bilingual podcast that shares articles and stories in both English and Mandarin.

Find out more at andrewzhan.com/podcast

Follow Andrew on Instagram @andrewzhan

Music:

Death Defying - P Davies, L Freeman

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/lori_gottlieb_how_changing_your_story_can_change_your_life

中英双语播客 “Drew哥Translate” is a bilingual podcast that shares articles and stories in both English and Mandarin.

Find out more at andrewzhan.com/podcast

Follow Andrew on Instagram @andrewzhan

Music:

10th And 17th - A Ard, T Regis

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.