You won't be good right away

February 16, 2026

One hurdle in any learning pursuit, particularly a creative one, is the desire and expectation to “be good” right away, resulting in frustration and giving up.

I once heard a comic artist say there’s about “50-100 bad comic panels in you.” So, their advice was to not beat around the bush. Just do the 50-100 panels and learn from your mistakes. You have to get throughout those failures before you can get to the good ones.

Another artist said your first 100 portrait drawings are going to be terrible, before you find your footing.

I heard an individual who had been creating videos for YouTube for a long time say it takes about 100 videos to find your voice.

Now, is 100 the specific, “magic” number? Probably not. What these people mean is that it takes a large amount of deliberate practice to get good at something. 100 happens to be a large amount that takes a concerted, consistent effort to achieve. And when you do achieve 100, I can’t see how someone couldn’t have learned something and improved.

Giving up too easy is easy (no pun intended), but the rewards come when you stick with it and use your failures as learning rather than discouragement.

Many people don’t want to go through the failures, the ugly part, they just want to be good right away. It’s hard to go through that “valley” when things aren’t going so well and nothing you’ve learned seems to be sticking. Just know, what you’re looking for is on the other side of the frustration and difficulty.


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