Conventional advice says to make art for yourself. Write for yourself, make music for yourself, and build products that you’d like to use, for yourself.

I disagree.

I don’t mean that you should chase external validation; because chasing clout to fit in with the cool kids will make you empty inside. However, creating for your lonely self won’t satisfy you either. Loneliness is a symptom of something wrong at a deeper level.

The iterative aspect of the creative process will take you out of your own head, and heal whatever is making you lonely. Use the size of the crowd you draw, audience, or the number of users or customers as the input to your feedback function during the process of creative iteration.