“That’s one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.”
This is a quote from Dave Grohl, lead singer of Foo Fighters.
When it comes to knowing if he’s doing good work or not, Dave’s lucky. He gets instant feedback on his work through huge numbers of albums, and ticket and merch sales, not to mention multiple comments each day from adoring fans who remind him how appreciated his body of work is.
For you and me, it’s a bit different. We don’t get as much feedback on what we do, so we need to lean on our personal experience, some self-belief, a bit of blind faith and a sprinkling of positive feedback to keep us going.
But I also think that if Dave sat down and tried to guess the 85,000 things that his fans like about his music, he wouldn’t even come close.
And that’s the bit you and Dave Grohl have in common.
If you’re ever in doubt, it’s probably safe to assume that there are many more great things about the work you’re doing and the impact it’s having than you’ll ever be able to realise