The Creativity Project: Frozen in Fear
Pushing past my comfort zone.
I originally planned on publishing my novel at the end of October last year.
Obviously that didn’t happed for a few reasons. One being that there is more that goes into self-publishing than I realized when I set my original goal. Another being a death in my family.
But the biggest one is the fear of failure.
Every time I go to do something on the list of things that still have to be done, I freeze up. I want to get this right the first time.
This is a lot of pressure for a first time author. And none of it is external. It’s all me.
A few things I’ve been doing to push past this fear is talk about very candidly with everyone who asks how my book is coming. I made a YouTube channel to document the process (including stating that last year was the year I was going to publish which is now awkward to go back and watch). I publicly announce my goals for the next phase of the project.
This weekend, I’m biting the bullet and pushing forward with formatting my book. I’m sick of looking at the stack of post-it notes of what I need to do next and not have them move around the board. The quarter is slipping away and I don’t want to have to announce that I failed this goal again.
I won’t fail this goal again.
I need to push past this fear of failing and get my book out, whether or not I feel ready for it. I can only learn from the process. It’s not a failure if I learn something from that and I need to remember that.
What project have you been putting off because you’re afraid to fail it? Let me know so I can cheer you on!
