CLOSING THE GAP

YOUR GROWTH CONTINUES HERE

The principle for Closing the Gap is quite simple...we know what we like but our skillset doesn't quite allow us to get there. But when we start to work really hard with intent, deadlines, accountability, and camaraderie, we can make progress! This is based on Ira Glass' "The Gap" where he said:


"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."


This amazing collective of students is attempting to do just that over the course of this program. Take a look and see how they are doing below!


Azure Mahara

Joanne Olson

Lindsay West

Loren Haar

Maggie Devereux

Natalia Smirnova

Shereen Khoja

Allyson Klein

“It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.”