When you make or write something, do you show it to anyone?
Do you have a team, an editor, a partner, a friend, a coach who can offer feedback, poke at your idea, help you patch holes, or convince you to start over?
Businessweek has been serving up brilliant covers and GIFs recently as they cover some major stories. This reinvention (read all about it here) began with the magazine's reboot in 2010, but its streak of creativity happens because of one practice:
“As designers finish their layouts, they’re posted on a wall and the staff is invited to a walk-through of the ideas daily, so the designers get input from everyone, not just other creatives. ”
I know designers who won't show anyone anything until their product is finished and fit for consumption. Same goes for writers I know, or painters.
What would happen if you displayed your work, half-formed and not quite ready? I bet it would get better.
Are you ready to show your work? If you want to improve it, you better be.