The social obligation to be bad at things
I found that, as a person who (sometimes) creates things, my attitude towards other people who create things has significantly shifted.<p>When I was younger I would just see the fault -- the typos, the narcissism, the pointlessness, the already-been-done-better-by-others -- of people&#x27;s work.  But after trying a bit, it sometimes (for the same reasons the OP talks about) creating anything new ends up being really hard in part because while you struggle everyone is shouting &quot;lame!&quot; from the sidelines (and doing nothing).  You see this a lot on this site in particular -- the &quot;middlebrow dismissal&quot; HN is famous for.<p>So now, even when I see something that I genuinely think is lame, I think of this problem and keep my negativity to myself.  I might give useful criticism but I try to keep the balance in mind.  Even if you publish something you&#x27;ve made that is kinda lame, I still think it is awesome that you are taking the effort to finish something.  The best way to get better is by making multiple attempts.