Fear and failure

AUGUST 05, 2019

In Tribes, Seth Godin wrote: 

Fear of criticism is higher than fear of failure.

It's incredible how a simple observation can be so profound. After reading this I began observing how often my fear of failure was really fear of criticism. Generally speaking, I've observed that I'm perfectly fine with an idea not panning out, or a project not getting traction. Failure is ok. It's failing in front of people that bothers me, and that is a massive limitation on what I'm willing to try. If I'm unwilling to fail publicly, I will always limit my exposure, and thus my upside along with it.  

They say, dance like no one's watching. After reading this, I say do everything like no one's watching. 

I could, of course, take lessons from Cato and embrace the criticism, but that's another subject.