{"id":37899,"date":"2017-12-02T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=37899"},"modified":"2017-01-31T23:19:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T07:19:32","slug":"everything-is-a-work-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/02\/everything-is-a-work-in-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything is a Work in Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"sapa
Sapa, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

I was walking in the streets, and I saw this slogan: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Always in Beta.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be paralyzed by perfection<\/h2>\n

I love the concept that everything in life is a work-in-progress. We will never achieve \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperfection\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d yet we can work towards it.<\/p>\n

For example, when it comes to our photography, we will never create the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperfect\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 photograph, or the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperfect\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 photo series. Every time we click the shutter, we get a little bit better. Every time we click the shutter, we are a little more likely to make a better photo.<\/p>\n

One of the best benefits of the internet is how fluid it is. For example, when I upload a photo series to my website portfolio, I can add images, change images, remove images, change the sequencing or ordering, or remove it all together. I know that there are certain photos of mine that I love from a few years ago (that get better with time), and certain photos I begin to resent looking at (as time goes on).<\/p>\n

Keep moving forward<\/h2>\n

If you always see everything in life as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcin progress\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you will make more forward progress.<\/p>\n

A lot of us fall victim to perfectionism. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything, because we are fearful that it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be perfect. We are afraid of failure, and letting others down. Most of all, we are afraid of letting ourselves down.<\/p>\n

Aim for perfection, but know your first attempt won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be perfect. Even the best baseball players have to strike-out a lot, in order to hit a home run. Soccer players (even the best) often miss goals. Even the strongest olympic weightlifters often miss their target goals.<\/p>\n

But we need to always make forward progress.<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a writer, keep cranking out those \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcshitty first drafts.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a photographer, keep taking \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcshitty photos.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to become stronger, less fat, and more fit \u00e2\u20ac\u201d stop eating \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcshitty food.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

What I try to do<\/h2>\n

I know for myself, I try to remove some of my vices everyday, and add to my virtues. I try to be less hypocritical each day, I try to be less envious of others, I try to be more satisfied, and more grateful.<\/p>\n

But each day is a struggle. It is a struggle to get to work, and focus on \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchonorable industry.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 It is hard to not get tempted by power, fame, or money. It is hard to learn how to say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcno\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to others, and to focus on yourself and your own work. It is hard to not compare yourself to others.<\/p>\n

Start now<\/h2>\n

My biggest piece of advice is this \u00e2\u20ac\u201d regardless of how bad your situation is, or how bad your timing is, start now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no better time for you to start your business, your entrepreneurial pursuit, your artistic projects, or whatever\u00e2\u20ac\u201d than right now.<\/strong> This current moment.<\/p>\n

Because who knows, you might die in your sleep tonight. Or today you might get hit by a drunk driver. Or you might get into a car crash while texting and driving.<\/p>\n

Treat life like it is always a work-in-progress; and you will be less discouraged if things don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work out the way you want it to. Treat each action in your life as a mini-experiment, and learn as you go.<\/p>\n

Always keep moving forward,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Learn more: Philosophy ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friend, I was walking in the streets, and I saw this slogan: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Always in Beta.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/eric-kim-photography-sapa-2017-0003908.jpg?fit=2000%2C1325&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}