We're all great at two things.

The first one is being ourselves.

The second one is the thing we have to discover.

A skill. A craft. A type of work. Something we’re naturally good at, deeply interested in, or willing to spend years getting better at.

But discovering that second thing isn’t enough.

The most important part is what happens after you find it: you have to make it yours.

There will always be someone more experienced than you. Someone faster. More technical. More talented. Someone who has been doing it for longer.

But they can’t do it exactly like you.

They don’t have your taste, your experiences, your way of thinking, your sense of humor, your obsessions, your references, or to be more precise, the way you see the world!

That’s the part you shouldn’t try to remove.

It’s easy, especially when you’re learning, to look at people you admire and try to imitate them. That’s probably even necessary at the beginning.

But eventually, the goal is to stop asking:

“How would they do this?”

And start asking:

“How would I do this?”

Because the thing that makes your work different isn’t only how good you are at the craft. It’s you.

Find the second thing, then bring the first one into it.