Let excellence be satisfying before anybody notices it.

If a piece of work only becomes good to you once someone has praised it, you have handed the whole reward to whoever happens to be looking. Learning to feel the satisfaction at the moment the thing is right, alone, before anyone sees, gives you a supply that does not depend on attention. It also makes you a better judge, because you are reading the work rather than the room.

Finish something this week and sit with it for a minute before sharing it. Decide for yourself whether it is good. Then share it, and see whether the response changes your view as much as it used to.