Wanting to look good and wanting to be good are different workouts. Know which one you’re training.

Two different aims can produce effort that looks exactly the same from outside, and only you can tell which one is running. One is pointed at how something reads to other people, the other at whether the thing is actually solid, and they come apart the moment nobody is watching. Neither is shameful, since wanting to be seen well is ordinary. The catch is that appearances can be kept up without the substance, and substance cannot be borrowed back later.

Ask of one thing you are working on whether you would still do it if nobody ever saw the result. That is worth knowing and not worth punishing yourself over.