Fear is anxiety produced by overthinking.
Things like worries about:
- Money
- Deadlines
- Imposter Syndrome
But more thinking won’t make those worries go away.
No matter how hard you try.
Here’s a 5 step framework to confront your fears and live a more worry-free creative life in the process:
1. Define
Use a specific action you’ve been thinking about taking for a while.
But are scared of following through with.
And list all of the worst things you can imagine happening if you actually did it.
List enough that you can begin to pinpoint the worst 3.
2. Prevent
Create a new list of things you can do to stop those worst 3 fears from becoming reality.
Or at least decrease the likelihood of them happening.
3. Repair
If the worst case scenario does happen…
What could you do to repair the damage?
Who could you ask for help?
Create another list of answers.
And as you go through this list ask yourself:
Has anyone else in the history of time found a solution to this problem?
The answer is most likely yes.
4. Upside
What are the benefits of an attempt at taking action?
What happens if you succeed?
Be conservative in this list.
The upside doesn’t have to be much to be worth the effort.
5. Costs
If I avoid taking action…what will my life look like in 6 months? A year? 3 years?
- Emotionally
- Financially
- Physically
Get as detailed as possible.
How this is relevant for a:
Freelancer — Fears are likely popping up from every direction. Instead of trying to ignore them, face them head on. And create a list of action items to help you work through next steps IF things get wild.
Full-timer — It can be hard to get multiple teams on the same page. By working through this process as a brainstorming session with others in your org you can focus creative energy where it’s needed most.
Dabbler — It’s likely that you have yet to take the first step toward your dream creative career. Or maybe you have but you’re stuck on which one to take next. Use this system as a way through the darkness.
The Takeaway
Your assumptions are fragile.
And by getting them down on paper you can begin to:
- Test their validity
- Identify which ones are real
- Deal with ones that aren’t as bad
Learn to drive without the emergency brake.
It won’t make your creative career easy.
But it will definitely make it easier.
