Why Creative Progress Hides Until It Doesn't

As we fast approach the middle of the year (19 days to be exact), things can begin to feel slightly retrospective.

Questions begin to arise:

• Have I accomplished what I said I was going to do?

• Are the 6 months remaining enough for me to start that YouTube channel?

• Why am I still treading water?

And so today, I thought it’d be fitting to reflect on the first half that’s been, acknowledge the progress and reset ourselves going into the second half of 2026.

Let’s dive in.

On Thursday night, my girlfriend and I tuned in to watch the first match of the World Cup: Mexico vs South Africa.

It was a scrappy opener (much like the first half of the year) with some wonder goals and 3 red cards, but for me, I was just happy to come home and watch it after an afternoon of photography in a nearby town.

For me, the World Cup was always months away…

In my mind, I had an abundant amount of time to accomplish my first-half goals (much like Mexico’s 1), but in reality, June is already here.

Clearly, my time was not as extensive as I’d previously believed.

You might have this feeling as well, especially as a creative.

January is full of ideas and hopes, but once June rolls around, things begin to feel a little heavy… so let’s change that!

Now I think it’s difficult to look at the first half of the year by the goals we accomplished (especially creative ones).

See, as creatives (me talking just as much to myself here as well), our returns are cumulative.

What do I mean by this?

Well, you and I aren’t a spreadsheet. We’re not a quarterly report we can compare to previous quarters. Often our work spends a lot of time culminating, building, growing, and then goes on to deliver massive returns.

I.e. not linear, more compound.

So when I look back on the first (scrappy) half of the year, I try to find little pockets of that culminated growth, rather than a time-based comparison.

It’s hard for sure, especially when maybe all you’re really craving is some tangible metric to show yourself: yes, I am progressing and doing what I said.

Now you may think I’m going to suggest looking at your ‘inputs’ rather than the outputs.

Things like: how many spec shoots you did, how many new contacts you made, etc.

Tbh, that’s not really a true measure either.

In my case, if I looked at all of the pitches I’ve sent in the last few months, it doesn’t really give me a sense of pride/fulfilment.

So then what am I saying?

Well, I’ve found it’s all about looking back at moments where I reacted in a more magnetic way to situations.

Moments where I was more aligned with the type of artist/person I wanted to be.

These moments of culmination have a far higher ROI than that 10th pitch after the uninspired 9 preceding it.

Here are some of my examples:

• June: Led with a strong price I was happy with (important part) to a potential client, without making concessions = new client.

• May: Invested in a film camera to push my creativity out of its comfort zone = new medium.

• April: Shot my first tourism campaign for the first country I ever solo-travelled in = amazing trip with my girlfriend.

• March: Focused on mindfulness and better mentality = became more present.

• February: Slowed down my photography shooting style = learned lighting.

• January: Spent valuable time with my family in Australia = vibes.

Notice these weren’t necessarily action-based? They were simply decisions, opportunities and culminations of previous months’ work that brought me back some return.

Now, it’s not worth ignoring what appear to be L’s from the first half of the year.

Reframing them is the important part.

Those apparent L’s are simply building blocks for the culmination.

So my suggestion is to take the time this weekend to look back on your first half, find the moments where you acted in alignment, and name the L’s as building blocks for the coming months’ ROI.

Compound returns are how the creative bubble works, so don’t get trapped treating June as a Q2 report!

If I keep the World Cup theme going, the manager just had a chat with you, and now it’s time to head out and show up for the second half.

Without sounding like a pretty average motivational speaker, honestly, the most progress I’ve found has been through small improvements in the quality of my work.

Which, if we reverse engineer, came from an investment in my creativity (see list above). And if we reverse-engineer it one more time, it always comes down to loosening the pressure we put ourselves under.

Let me give you an example: just last week, I shot a YouTube video on a Sunday afternoon.

There was no script, but after a walk, I decided that I had something worth sharing and put it out there.

With no light, a curtain over the window and a poorly arranged couch (as my girlfriend told me later), I shot a piece to camera that felt irritatingly easy.

When I compare it to my previous upload earlier in the year, it was night and day. I remember the effort I went to filming those shots, trying to sound good and re-editing a bunch of times.

Overnight, the video this week doubled the views of that one in February.

And if we ignore the views as a success metric, looking back, that first video came from self-induced pressure.

Comparing that to this week, when I simply shared it without a whole bunch of care, the difference remains clear.

And that’s what I’m trying to get at with you here… when we reverse engineer our successes, oftentimes it’s a result of flow, not force. Or fun, not fear.

So then, how do we invest more in our creativity? Here’s how I’m looking at it moving forward.

• Trying out new film stocks with my new film camera

• Documenting my life on video for fun

• Taking time to invest in workshop calls about lighting and other photography niches

• Trips. It’s no secret I love to travel and explore… so why not fuel that love?

I’d also like to stress that this ‘mentality’ doesn’t imply a lack of precision or attention to detail.

There’s still a minimum level of quality you likely want to maintain in your work, but I think the shift is not letting perfectionism disguise itself as standards.

Flow and alignment → less pressure → more creativity → better quality.

Without looking too far ahead (December), take the example of summer as your next case study!

For me, I’m looking at more ways to foster this creativity.

As I said above, that’s the fuel that gets me producing my best work.

Next week, I head back to La Costa Brava for a shoot of an accommodation up there (more to come).

Here I’m planning to try my new tethered setup + another roll of film.

The key is that I’m excited for these, and that’s the idea!

Find yours! Happy shooting,

Matty.