Busting the Fear of Failure

How to get over the biggest creative blocks

#1 Fear of Failure

The fear that the paintings will be judged as inadequate often leads to procrastination, self-censorship, or abandoning ideas before they develop. Studies show that fear reduces experimentation, which is essential to creativity. Also, there's some ego involved. Others have seen you produce extraordinary masterpieces in the past! But what will they think of the dumb painting you're working on now? So you freeze up. Forget what others think—and what you think. Shed that ego and get messy!
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 #2 Perfectionism

For many painters, perfectionism is their flow zone. They love it and they do well at it.
But for others, perfectionism is not their goal, but striving for excellence is. But demanding perfection of yourself is painful and unnecessary. Many artists produce their strongest work only after numerous imperfect attempts. It took Thomas Edison almost one thousand attempts to invent the lightbulb.  So, after you've tried and failed at a painting a thousand times, well, if nothing else, we’d be damned impressed!

#3 Rigid Thinking

Creativity depends on cognitive flexibility—the ability to see multiple possibilities, question assumptions, and combine unrelated ideas. Rigid thinking traps artists in familiar solutions and inhibits originality. In other words, more play less thinking. As they say, you have to break a few paintings to make an omelette.
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# 4 Excessive Self-Criticism

Every artist needs an internal editor, but when the critic dominates the creative process, ideas are rejected before they have a chance to mature. The problem with self criticism is that you're thinking about yourself rather than your painting. If you're immersed in your creativity there is no self to think about. There is only creativity. Get your big, fancy self out of the way, and let that magnificent creativity flood through your veins, through your arms, and fingers, and into your painting.
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#5 Need for External Validation

When an artist becomes overly dependent on praise, sales, awards, or approval, intrinsic motivation diminishes. A little validation is like a pinch of salt flavoring your creative process. But addiction to it will give your creative process high blood pressure, kidney disease, and a potential stroke.

​For more, search this blog also for Creative Blocks, and Psychology of Art