Impress Yourself

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butterfly

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Found this line jotted down in a journal and thought I'd share:


"The only person you should be interested in completely impressing is you."
 

buz

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It's much easier to impress other people. :D
 

buz

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Really? I impress myself all the time. All the damn time. :D

Well, I'm not surprised. Hippos are extremely impressive. It's science.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Found this line jotted down in a journal and thought I'd share:


"The only person you should be interested in completely impressing is you."

Ummm, I don't buy it. Being impressed with yourself is easy, and proves nothing. I'm also not big on impressing others, either, but at least it takes some sort of effort to do this.
 

Putputt

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Well, I'm not surprised. Hippos are extremely impressive. It's science.

'Tis indeed. Need to tell Kallithrix about this, that hippo-hatin' thing.
 

quicklime

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Well, I'm not surprised. Hippos are extremely impressive. It's science.


agreed. I tried dung-showering once with a rolled up magazine and my fancy opposable thumbs, and still failed miserably

(google "dung showering" if you need to)
 

Phaeal

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I prefer impressing people with lots of money to spend.

:D
 

LJD

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Found this line jotted down in a journal and thought I'd share:


"The only person you should be interested in completely impressing is you."

Depends on who the "you" is. It only makes sense for certain people. Not for people who always seem to be impressed with their own work. Not for people with Golden Word Syndrome.
 

Putputt

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agreed. I tried dung-showering once with a rolled up magazine and my fancy opposable thumbs, and still failed miserably

(google "dung showering" if you need to)

The trick for you humans is in the wrist action...
 

BethS

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I don't know about impress, but I do write to please myself. And I'm a hard taskmaster.
 

buz

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The trick for you humans is in the wrist action...

I would think it also has a bit to do with the right consistency of mixture, yeah? I mean, a dehydrated medium isn't going to spray quite right...
 

slhuang

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Ummm, I don't buy it. Being impressed with yourself is easy, and proves nothing. I'm also not big on impressing others, either, but at least it takes some sort of effort to do this.

Oh, I'm the exact opposite. Like buzhidao, I feel like I impress other people all the damn time, but I hold myself to a much higher standard. (It's murder on the ego! But I do think it helps me produce better work.)

Like LJD said, I think whether this quote applies depends entirely on what type of personality you have. For some people it should probably be entirely inverted -- depends on whether you're more or less exacting with yourself than the general public, I think.
 

katci13

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I'm pretty hard to impressed so if I'm thinking something in my writing is great, it must be pretty great. Lol! Sometimes we're our own worst (and best) critic. I also like to try and out do myself. Kind of compete with the successes of my past. One day I'll be freaking brilliant.

Like slhuang....I impress other people all the time. Lol! It's easy to impress other people when they can't do what you do (and sometimes even when they can.) My standards are pretty high and I fall short all the time, but I'm the one who needs to believe it's great at the end of the day. If I'm not impressed it's going in the story graveyard with the rest of my crap. I don't care how much anyone else likes it.
 

AshleyEpidemic

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I can not impress myself. It is my fatal flaw. Nothing I do is never good enough. There is always something I can do better. Although, most people think differently.
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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I heard a similar quote not that long ago (can't remember where or who said it), but I like this wording better: "An artist should create art to express, not to impress."
 

Putputt

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I would think it also has a bit to do with the right consistency of mixture, yeah? I mean, a dehydrated medium isn't going to spray quite right...

Depends on how hard you flick, my friend.
 

Jamesaritchie

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I'm pretty hard to impressed so if I'm thinking something in my writing is great, it must be pretty great. Lol! Sometimes we're our own worst (and best) critic. I also like to try and out do myself. Kind of compete with the successes of my past. One day I'll be freaking brilliant.

Like slhuang....I impress other people all the time. Lol! It's easy to impress other people when they can't do what you do (and sometimes even when they can.) My standards are pretty high and I fall short all the time, but I'm the one who needs to believe it's great at the end of the day. If I'm not impressed it's going in the story graveyard with the rest of my crap. I don't care how much anyone else likes it.

I guess my problem is that none of it matters. Fact remains fact, and whether you impress yourself or others doesn't change the quality of whatever is is you do. You can be impressed as hell over something you do, and it can still be pure crap. Or you can think it's pure crap, and pretty much the entire world can think it's platinum all the way through.

In writing, no matter how impressed you are with your own work, when you put it out there in public it can still get shot down, and almost always does.

I just don't see how being "impressed" with yourself is anything other than ego. I also think you have to be careful when you impress others. Who you impress, and why you impress them, is key, not how many you impress.

Like many other things, I think "impressed" with yourself is another way of saying "we're all worthy", no matter what anyone else says. From all I've read, Ted Bundy was impressed as hell with himself.
 

butterfly

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Well, you don't have to like it and you don't have to dung shower either (no, I didn't look it up).

And it has truth. You have to impress yourself, even if only with little things, because that is the impetus for your next good thing, whether is art, craft, or otherwise. Whether you simply pick the best word without looking it up or make someone's day by choosing soothing words, you have to continue to be impressed with yourself.

Thank you Susan and Randi!
 
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Mr Flibble

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Someone hasn't head about the Dunning-Kruger effect..

The better you think you are, the more likely that isn't the case.

Shakespeare said it best : "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

I don't write to impress anyone - that leads to words that I think will impress other writers. Not readers. Or to writing that 'sounds' writerly but is in fact pants.

I write to tell a story to the best of my ability.
 
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