When you’re starting out writing in academia, which is generally going to be at university, it’s hard. You might write in first person, include blocks of quotations, and look on your previous writing with some negativity. I always used to ask myself, “Did I really write that? Wow, it’s a bit boring.”
I then think about what I needed to include in my work, how I would entertain the reader (my lecturer) – and by entertain I don’t mean be funny, I mean so they have an easy time understanding your arguments and want to award you the best possible grade for ‘doing a job well on the essay’.