This brilliant tip from a creator will change the way you look at your early work

Attention, artists and writers everywhere: Don’t link growth to disdain for your old projects

Hanif Abdurraqib (Photo used with permission from Hanif Abdurraqib)

For those of you who dabble in the creative arts, a question: Do you feel any shame about your early work?

It’s probably normal to groan at an earlier, less refined version of yourself, or roll your eyes at what you created early on in your life or your career -- whether that means as an artist, a writer, or however you work.

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But you shouldn’t feel embarrassed, or link the concept of growth to hating your old stuff.

What if, instead, you looked at it like this? “Sure, you might hate your first poem, but because of that poem, you were able to write better poems," Hanif Abdurraqib said.

Abdurraqib is a wise poet, writer and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. He’s featured on a recent episode of “The Best Advice Show,” and we think you’re going to want to hear more from him.

Understand that you did the best you could with the tools that you had, Abdurraqib tells us.

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