Nothing is perfect but what you say to yourself should encourage you to strive for perfection.

Right now in my life, I have 3 hobbies.
The first is photography which is also my career, the second is jiu-jitsu, and the 3rd is training my dog.
Photography taught me the most valuable skill I have ever learned and that is how to practice.
If you want to get good at anything it takes a few simple repeatable actions.

Action number one- is consistency. Practice every day or as frequently as possible.

Action two- Research you need to learn new techniques from other people, books, or the internet.
The more places you research the more ideas you will find and the more you can experiment with these techniques.

Action three- Be okay with failing but do not beat yourself up for it.
I used to beat myself up a lot when images did not go as planned but that only made me push photography away.
Telling myself that I sucked at editing made me hate editing but when I first started it was something I loved about photography.

Action four- have a community to communicate with. Whether this is online or in-person people love to talk about their passions. Yes, there may be a lot of gatekeepers out there who think they have the magic bullet to success in your passion but the people who are at the same stage as you often bring the most value to the table. Beginners and novices are eager to learn and often much more eager to share than experts are.

Action five- is assessment ask people for honest critiques! Ask people that aren’t afraid to hurt your feelings! A dishonest opinion that panders to your feelings is one of the most toxic obstacles to your growth.

With that, I hope you are all getting better at your hobbies and enjoying them along the way.