{"id":327,"date":"2016-03-22T06:43:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T06:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/visakanv.com\/marketing\/?p=327"},"modified":"2022-11-07T15:54:49","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T15:54:49","slug":"how-to-deal-with-creative-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visakanv.com\/marketing\/how-to-deal-with-creative-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"How to deal with creative anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creative anxiety sucks. Horribly.<\/h3>\n

Before anything else, here are the 6 steps you need to take:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Acknowledge<\/strong><\/em> that creative anxiety can be dealt with<\/li>\n
  2. Realize<\/strong><\/em> that creative anxiety is fundamentally an experience of fear<\/li>\n
  3. Articulate<\/em><\/strong> the precise failure conditions you think you\u2019re worried about<\/li>\n
  4. Recognize<\/strong><\/em> that failure isn\u2019t actually as bad as you\u2019re making it out to be<\/li>\n
  5. Get feedback<\/strong><\/em> from someone you trust (this helps you avoid CATASTROPHIC failure)<\/li>\n
  6. Finish.<\/strong> <\/em>Go for done, not perfect.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Some context:<\/p>\n

    I used to deal with it by distracting myself for hours, before freaking out and trying to rush everything. I thought the solution was to eliminate distractions, so I literally unfriended and unfollowed everybody on social media.<\/p>\n

    I found that I still ended up basically spending my time over-researching all my articles. And I still freak out and rush everything. So now I have to limit my research time. But even that feels like it doesn\u2019t address the root of the problem\u00a0fully.<\/p>\n

    Recently,\u00a0I\u2019ve actually had a couple of moments of clarity where everything came together, and I was able to write and create without being crippled by fear or anxiety. It was so blissful. I\u2019m writing this primarily to reflect on that bliss, that I may be able to recreate it regularly at will.<\/p>\n

    One can hope. May we all become productive, efficient members of society.<\/p>\n

    Here are the steps I\u2019d prescribe to anybody who\u2019s anxious, stuck, avoiding their work:<\/h2>\n

    1: Acknowledge that creative anxiety can<\/em> be dealt with.<\/h3>\n

    It\u2019s something you\u2019re experiencing, and it\u2019s something you have the power to do something about. It\u2019s something that\u2019s happening in your body, in your nervous system.<\/p>\n

    You might not be able to prevent it from happening, but you can learn to deal with it, cope with it, prepare for it and work with it. Acknowledging this is the first step, and it\u2019s very liberating. In fact, it\u2019s an indicator that this is something that matters to you:<\/p>\n

    \u201cIf you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), \u201cAm I really a writer? Am I really an artist?\u201d chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.\u201d
    \n\u2015 Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    2: Realize that creative anxiety is fundamentally an experience of fear.<\/h3>\n

    Fear of failure, usually.\u00a0Stephen Pressfield wrote a whole book about this. <\/a>\u00a0This is a very primal, primitive experience that can feel very at odds with rational thought. You might know intellectually that you\u2019re capable, yet the fear paralyzes you anyway.<\/p>\n

    I experienced this just yesterday, when I realized that I hadn\u2019t adequately prepared for a marketing meeting where I was to present my plans for our blog\u2019s editorial direction. I had thought about it a lot, and I had a ton of things that I wanted to say, but it was all one hot mess inside my head.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"This<\/a><\/p>\n

    This was by Dorothy Parker in 1945- and she was a sickeningly good writer. Good to know that this afflicts us all, I guess!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    3: Articulate\u00a0the precise failure conditions that you think you\u2019re\u00a0worried about.<\/h3>\n

    As Asana co-founder Justin Rosenstein described in his post How to Overcome Procrastination by Facing Discomfort<\/a>, this often reveals itself to be way more trivial and silly than it had seemed when you were gripped by it.<\/p>\n

    For me, I imagined myself\u00a0fumbling badly through the presentation. Everybody would be staring blankly at me, thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s stupid, that doesn\u2019t make any sense at all, wow u are suck\u201d<\/em>. My incompetence would be revealed. Any good work I had done up to that point would be discovered to be fraudulent, and I would bring shame and dishonor upon my ancestors.<\/p>\n

    Okay, so that probably wouldn\u2019t happen. But that\u2019s what it felt like, until I tried to put it into words.<\/strong><\/em> That was when I realized that at worst, my colleagues would think, \u201cVisa so didn\u2019t prepare for this,\u201d or \u201cHe sorta sounds like he knows what he\u2019s talking about but I don\u2019t really get it.\u201d Both of which are rather survivable circumstances.<\/p>\n

    4: Recognize that failure isn\u2019t actually so bad.<\/h3>\n
    \n

    \"austin-kleon-life-of-project\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    *Stolen in turn from Austin Kleon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    There\u2019s two kinds of failure, I think. Failure to meet the lofty expectations you might\u2019ve had when you were setting out, and disastrous failures (the kind that gets thousands of retweets and shares on news sites, telling everybody what a horrible person you are.)<\/p>\n

    The first is inevitable. The second is quite easily avoided.<\/p>\n

    5: Take catastrophic failure insurance: get feedback from somebody you trust!<\/h3>\n

    When we came to another task, it was \u201cI have to make a decision about whether to speak at this conference I was invited to in May. But I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s a worthwhile opportunity!\u201d Jordan replied, \u201cThat makes sense. So what\u2019s the very next step you can take?\u201d<\/p>\n

    That actually had a pretty easy answer: I could ask the organizer who invited me how many people would be in attendance, and decide on a minimum number for which I\u2019d consider it worth it. I could ask for advice from Asana\u2019s PR team as well.\u201d \u2013 Justin Rosenstein<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    For me, when I realized that I was in a muck, I knew that I would benefit from running it by someone instead of \u201cgoing dark\u201d.<\/p>\n

    So I pinged Dinesh via IM (even though I sit next to him in the office.) I just wrote,\u00a0\u201cHey, I need to stress-test some thoughts about editorial direction,\u201d<\/em> and I just vomited out a bunch of thoughts. I then asked \u201cAny red flags \/ missing details? What am I\u00a0missing \/ overlooking \/ oversimplifying?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    I can\u2019t actually remember\u00a0what exactly he said, but I remember\u00a0feeling relieved almost before he even responded.\u00a0The mere act of articulating myself\u00a0to another\u00a0person- instead of agonizing over it myself- saved me so<\/em> much stress and time!<\/p>\n

    When researching this phenomena, I learnt that\u00a0Pixar actually does the same thing with something they call a\u00a0Braintrust<\/a>. They understand that even the most effective people doing creative work will lose themselves in the details, and need feedback from trusted peers to get themselves unstuck.<\/em><\/p>\n

    6: Finish your work, and enjoy the triumph of overcoming the Resistance, you beautiful warrior, you.<\/h3>\n

    Reflect on your experiences and build your databank\/understanding of the nature of creative anxiety and fear.<\/p>\n

    Because it will be back again. It doesn\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

    _____<\/p>\n

    Here are some resources that I\u2019ve found incredibly helpful in thinking about all of this:<\/h2>\n