The dots will connect

People know good work when they see it. Everything takes care of itself when the work is good. You don't have to prove good work. You show it. Good work doesn't require any explanation – you don't have to champion it or defend it. Good work speaks for itself. And when it does speak to people, don't interrupt. You don't need to talk about it much – the work does the work for you.

And if your work is really good, you can spend less time doing all the other stuff — meetings, people, politics, numbers, management — the stuff that actually gets in the way of the work.

But there is a flip side to all of this.

You will never feel all that satisfied.

You will only see imperfections. Things that could have been done better. Details you missed. Changes you want to make.

And even when the work is improving, you will never actually think it's all that good. And this will drive you to feel a certain way. A sort of madness that you can only quiet by working on the next thing and with the idea that you are getting closer to something that will feel fulfilling and final. But it never comes. And so this cycle keeps repeating — over and over — and you have to constantly remind yourself that it is all part of it. That there is no destination.

You have to trust that the dots will connect.