All great art is the work of the whole living creature, body and soul, and chiefly of the soul.

Serious work draws on more of a person than the skill involved. Hands, training and technique will get you a competent object; what makes it worth somebody else’s attention is that a whole person was present while it was made, including the parts with nothing to do with craft. That is why work done while distracted reads as thin even when nothing is technically wrong with it.

So before the next piece of work you care about, notice what state you are in. Full attention is the scarce ingredient, and it is the one thing you can supply without any extra talent.