If you create something – anything – you will be judged for it. People will love it and people will hate it. Some people will love you and some will decide they hate you (both this love and hate of you personally is, of course, largely based on assumptions and a story they invent, not on who you actually are).
Your ideas don't have to drastically change the world in order to impact it. If you create something that makes life more enjoyable for someone, or easier to navigate, or allows them to grow their business in a meaningful way or spend more time with the people they love, you will have helped make the world a better place than it was before. If you allow the fear of what others think of you to win out, all you're left with is a life of solely consuming what others have created and squandering your own potential.
Delight in what others have created, but take the leap to create something of your own. You – and the world – will be better for it.
Originally published July 2014
