Why does the fear of failure block more than actual failure?
Real failure is information: you tried, it didn't work, you learn. Fear of failure stops you from trying — so you never have information. You stay in a loop imagining catastrophes that never come.
Cameron puts it this way: your Censor prefers that you don't believe than that you believe badly. For the Censor, a finished and criticized work is worse than a work never started. But for you, it's exactly the other way around.
How to distinguish fear of failure from perfectionism?
They are confused but they are not the same. Perfectionism says "do it right." Fear of failure says "don't do it."
Key differences:
- Perfectionism: you start but you don't finish
- Fear of failure: don't start
- Perfectionism: impossible high standard
- Fear of failure: any standard paralyzes you
- Perfectionism: focus on the work
- Fear of failure: focus on how they are going to judge you
What three specific exercises deactivate fear?
Cameron proposes several — these three are the most effective.
3 anti-fear exercises:
- Creative pre-mortem: Write the worst possible review of your work before starting it. It is almost always less terrible than imagined
- Deliberately mediocre work: commit to doing something wrong on purpose for a week — turn off the pretense
- List of past failures: Write down 10 creative failures in your life. Notice how many of them really ruined something.
Why do many famous artists talk about "doing bad works"?
Ray Bradbury wrote that to get to one good work you have to go through 1000 bad ones. Picasso said "I don't search, I find — but first I search a lot." The pattern is the same: quantity generates quality.
Cameron sums it up: your next bad deed is necessary. If you avoid it, you never get to the good one.