One of the most important characteristics of a growing photographer is the ability to accurately assess their current skill level, where they need work, and what sort of jobs they can take on and perform well. This great video examines the importance of being honest about one's abilities.
Coming to you from Jamie Windsor, this video talks about the Dunning-Kruger effect and how it applies to photography. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low skill overestimate their abilities and people of higher skill underestimate them, though it's most often known for the former effect. This isn't necessarily arrogance or the like, but rather the fact that without extensive knowledge in a field, a person simply cannot form the metacognition to accurately assess their own abilities. Put simply: people don't know what they don't know. As Windsor talks about, this can land you in hot water if you're taking paying jobs above your ability. One of the best ways to combat this is to find professional photographers who are better than you and trust the opinions and the advice they give you. Check out the video above for more ways to avoid the pitfalls of the effect.
It's almost like a cyclic problem. You think you're so good but you're not, so how are you going to be able to judge who is better if you are still in that mental state that you're great. It really does come down to accepting reality, there's always someone better in some way, and even those who aren't better than you might have an insight that you never saw. Another pair of eyes never really hurts to see what you are blind to regardless of who they are I think. Sure you can throw the "too many cooks in the kitchen" deal, but it's about balance. Ask a few others with an open mind, pros or not and see what they have to say and if it makes sense to you. Not just in photography, but life in general. And this goes both ways. If you are asked about something, just don't conclude something, but explain and provide a solution. We are quick these days to say something is not right, or it should not be done like that, but offer no solution. Look at the politics of today, many problems are brought up and just presented, but where is the solution that is thought out? No one wants to take that responsibility and throw a solution out there. Make it a discussion. If your proposed solution doesn't make sense to the other party, ask why, maybe because they see it differently than what your rationale provided. Then reformulate. Discussions are ultimately the way forward, and accepting and realizing different angles will help propel not only photography skill but I think many other life skills as well and ideals. Don't be bias on yourself, and don't be bias on other without providing a reason, then be prepared to reformulate your reasoning based on their feedback. That's just my approach to skills I'm working on such as photography. I ask what should I have done better, explain why I did it that way, and see where it goes from there if it makes the photo better or not next time and refine from there.
I take competent photographs of nice landscapes, nature, and architecture, and while I'm certainly proficient at what I do, I am not going to pretend that there are not hundreds of thousands of people who are as good, or better, than me.
I take photos for me, and a large part of my motivation is the fact that I am taking my attention away from my every day existence, and by extension reducing my levels of stress and anxiety; to be clear, much of my motivation is non-photographic in nature.
I think there are a lot of people out there who need to realise that photography doesn't need to be about becoming better, or getting likes, or becoming pro; and that once they make this conceptual leap, they will be all the happier for it.
Perhaps a psychological equvilience can be drawn in terms of a society which keeps telling people they need to be thinner (women), or more muscular (men).
The more I think about this stuff, the more I conclude that the content of these sites is largely empty - buy this gear; you need this Photoshop technique; you must do this. Only then will you be complete. Shades of Fight Club:
"Fk off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may."
I think I'm a so-so photographer, that puts me at the rightmost part of the graph... or I might be going through the Dunning-Kruger effect. Just kidding, I have a long way to go, I just went over the hill at the start of the graph. This video is so helpful.