Seth Godin has a short chapter in his book The Practice on his experience learning to fly fish. 

At the retreat, he specifically requested that he not have a hook attached to his rod so he could focus instead on the practice of casting perfectly. 

Without the hook (and therefore without any chance of catching anything), there was no way he could obsess over the outcome. He was focused on the process when everybody else was focused on catching a fish.

The result—he learned how to cast perfectly and mastered fly fishing. His friends obsessed over making a catch and failed to develop the necessary skills.

This is how artists must work. They must focus on the process, not the outcome. They must create and ship work on a regular basis without worrying about whether or not this project will be “the one.”

Process, not outcome. That’s where we need to redirect our focus.

If we don’t set out to create a masterpiece, it’s much more likely we’ll make one in the end.

(A personal aside: I realized after reading this passage that my dad was an artist in the same way. He loved fishing and genuinely did not care if he caught a fish or not in the process. He was totally at peace on a boat or pier casting and reeling, over and over. He had the mindset and demeanor of a true artist.)