I read (more than) my share of books on productivity and procrastination. Something they all tend to agree on is that while procrastination has many causes, a remarkably common one is fear of failure. As I've worked to simplify my life and be more focused, I am discovering for myself that fear of failure is the biggest obstacle. With focus and good advice from many sources I have been able to overcome that fear and make progress. For anyone who happens to be following in my path, or is planning to, that's the good news.

The bad news is that the fear of failure is perfectly rational. As it turns out, as I increase my productivity and reach out to finish projects and do things slightly outside of my comfort zone, I'm not knocking every one of them out of the park. In fact, a few don't go anywhere near as well as my idealistic concepts I've held in my head for years. Time winds up being wasted. Things get more broken than they were before. I have to ask for a lot more help and advice than I thought possible. And I'm learning more than I was when I didn't make mistakes by doing.

As I push ideas into reality, the reality exposes the rough edges and immediately reveals lack of skill, preparation, or care in the process. Reality wipes away my hubris, and leaves me with a wisdom I didn't have when everything I did would be perfect -- as soon as I got around to it, or if only I had left myself more time.

A participatory life is less forgiving, but more interesting.

#6962

Unless noted, all content on epistolary.org is © Copyright 1999-2009 to Rob Carlson with all rights reserved. All information is verified when possible, cited as appropriate and applied in the real world at your own risk. Send all feedback to rob@vees.net.