If you're a new artist, the skill you should be focusing on is *finishing* things. Being able to say "OK I'm calling this done," and moving on to your next piece is the most underrated skill of a creator.
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Put away your ideas for your magnum opus. Put them in a locked box on a really high shelf. Not only can you come back to them later, but by the time you've finished a ton of pieces, you'll likely open the box, look inside and think, "wow, my current ideas are way better."
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Creating is like playing a roguelike. You go into a roguelike knowing that you won't beat it your first or even your 50th try. But in every run, you learn a little bit more about the game's systems. You recognize your failures and do better in the next run.
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The joy in both roguelikes and creating comes from exploring and unearthing the world in front of you, and solving unexpected problems using your current toolkit. You don't mind that each individual run/piece isn't perfect. Because you know that's not the point.
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I've seen artists who continually leave their art unfinished, because it's not perfect. I'll go back and finish it later, they think. But it's very hard to grow as an artist that way.
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The weight of all those unfinished pieces will stress you out and erode your confidence. You won't learn the skills of polishing your work and finishing it.
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Finishing things is hard! It really is a skill that you have to train to get good at. But once you do, you will be able to make more and better art than you ever thought was possible.
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I've published around 300 pieces of music. Some of them are not good. But who cares? I know you don't. And if you don't, I'm certainly not going to spend my time worrying about it too much.
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The more art you create, the less importance you'll place on each piece. The weight of your value as an artist will no longer rest entirely on whatever you're working on at the moment. This is incredibly freeing.
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Deadlines, challenges, and collaborative projects are all great ways to learn how to know when something is done. I once did a challenge where I completed a song every week for 3 months and I can't even begin to tell you how much that helped me.
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Replying to
I would add that part of the experience you garner after years of learning production is the instinct to say something’s done versus the need to keep polishing. Not finishing because you’re progressing is okay, not finishing because you don’t know how to isn’t
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