Watching someone cook makes it look easy. That’s what skill looks like from the outside.

Ease is the last thing a skill acquires, and it is the only part a spectator sees. Years of fumbling have been compressed into movements that now look casual, so your own clumsy attempt gets compared with something that took a long time to become smooth. The comparison is unfair in a way that is almost invisible.

Watch somebody good and assume the fluency is the result rather than the starting point. Then try it yourself and expect to be slow. Measure yourself against your own attempt last week instead.