Good taste isn’t born. It’s built by listening, reading and watching way outside your usual lane.

Taste looks innate because you only ever see the finished version, which is somebody making confident choices quickly. Underneath sits a large amount of input: things watched, read and listened to well outside what was comfortable or familiar. Range is what makes judgment possible, since nothing can be compared against what you have never met.

Take in something outside your usual lane every week, including the old and the unfashionable. Pay attention to why a thing works rather than only whether you liked it. Taste sits downstream of exposure, and exposure is a decision.