Though the point of today’s link-share is to promote and dig up great, older articles, this post from Jeffery Zeldman, which I think about often, has a different take on “blasts from the past”.
If your old work doesn’t shame you, you’re not growing.
It’s nice to look back and feel that you’ve made progress. When you look at old work, it should suck glaringly and you should cringe painfully. But there should also be some germ within it that you’re not ashamed of—some spark of talent or inspiration that connects to what you do now.