The Portraits of Another Life YouTube channel has a lovely profile of Disney Imagineer Ray Kinman, who created several of the beautiful wood carvings for Disneyland attractions (including Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh). Three wonderful quotes that resonated:

I learn to do what I do by making mistakes, just by screwing it up—well that didn’t work—and trying something else. Embrace the mistakes. […] I think we’re kind of trained in school and in life to get the right answers and get rewarded for those and penalized for mistakes, but mistakes are where that really great learning and growth comes.

And:

Talent, I believe, is mostly a myth, because I hear that a lot—oh you’re so talented—and it’s not really true. Your greatest asset isn’t your good looks, it’s not education, it’s not who you know, it’s none of those things. The greatest asset you have is your persistence, and it’s the one thing that you’re fully in control of. When you see someone who really excels at something, it’s persistence and staying with it and repetition over a long period of time. That’s what you’re looking at.

And:

My definition of an artist is someone who creates.

Taken together, they form a terrific precept for creativity of any sort: Do the work, make mistakes, learn, repeat. Great advice whether you’re whittling wood, writing words, painting pictures, or crafting code.