1. Self-doubt. We tend to judge ourselves by our rough-hewn insides and others by their polished exteriors. You are greater than you know; you have strengths and depths that will astound you.

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

2. Fear. Fear is normal! Fear is okay! Accept fear and relax into it. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Acknowledge fear’s good intentions, hug it, and then give it a gold watch and send it into retirement. Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” – Frank Herbert, Dune

3. Procrastination. START! Put something on paper, no matter how bad and write, write, write… then edit! Put one foot in front of the other. Repeat. Repeat again. Get out and start knocking on doors and things will happen.

“So easy when I want to, so hard when I don’t.” – Unknown

4. Perfectionism. In some senses, perfectionism is a form of both fear and procrastination. Perfect takes forever, there is always one more thing that can be done plus if it’s perfect (which it never can be) then what’s to fear? Who can criticize perfection? I have this “3 Steps into the Fog” philosophy. Often, I don’t completely know my destination or fully understand the path forward. But I usually know generally direction is in front of me, not behind and so I take three steps forward into the fog aka the fuzzy future. Usually when I take a step or two, another step appears and so I continue to advance into the fog. Eventually the sun rises and the fog burns off and I see my way more clearly. Yes, I’ve not made a direct journey but I’m much further along than if I’d camped out on the far shore.

“You don’t have to be perfect to be perfectly okay!” – NSC

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier