Show your work first to someone who’ll tell you the truth, not just someone who loves you.

People who love you are useful for courage and useless for accuracy, because they are not trying to be accurate, they are trying to protect you. Praise feels good and teaches you nothing about where the thing is weak. You need one person who will say the awkward part out loud, early, while there is still time to change it.

Work out who that is for you: a teacher, a teammate, an older sibling with no stake in flattering you. Ask them specifically what is not working rather than whether they liked it. Thank them even when it stings.