Is Being Creative a Constant Uphill Battle?

Ira Glass outlines what it takes to break through as a creative person. I’ve seen various versions of this over the past month, but liked this presentation and thought it fit well with today’s topic.

I am constantly trying to realize my vision in my photography. I have the idea and visualize it in my mind, but the resulting photograph is rarely as good as in my mind. Occasionally though I produce some work that I’m really proud of, because it exactly represents my vision, perhaps it’s a fluke, or by chance. Perhaps it’s because I had planned and thought about the concept for months or years prior to actually taking the photo. Perhaps that planning helped me to pay attention to the little details while I took the photo.

Often when I do get one of these “good photos”, I will come back a year later and look at it and think our naive I was, that I’m much better now than I was then and I could make that photo so much better now. It seems that I am never happy with the level that I’m at. I’m always striving to get better, which I guess is a good thing, but I often wonder if I’m ever going to get to the point where I consider my work good. Or is it going to be a constant striving to be better, never satisfied with the current?