The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best – Henry van Dyke

Will anyone appreciate my art? Will anyone like my work? Will anyone read my book? Am I good enough?Paralysing self doubt, fear of failure and hesitations haunt us when we think of putting our talent “out there”, in front of the world to see.

Naked and vulnerable, we give permission to the world to critique us, shred us to pieces or appreciate us and build us up to glory. Such absolute power over us is a scary thought.

But, what is the alternative? What if we did not put our talent “out there”? What if we hid it in the dark and dingy cellar of our insecurities, doubts and fears where it never saw the sun? Where it shriveled and wilted away into nothing.

Talent needs to be brought out in the sunlight to at least have a chance at survival. If you don’t bring it out, you will be guilty of committing the gruesome murder of your own dreams. Killing our dreams means killing ourselves. Here are a few tips on how to overcome the fear of putting our talent “out there”

Start small – Crawl, walk and then run! Start by showcasing your talent in smaller, safer spaces – family, friends and trusted ones. Take their feedback, make improvements and follow this process for some time till you feel confident of showcasing your talent in a larger space. Going through this process will develop and refine your talent as well as build your confidence, and the world will start pausing to look at your talent.

Normalise failure – Failure is a part of life, just like hundreds of other experiences are a part of life. Think of it as normal and natural. Everyone experiences failure in some form or the other. The choice to pick yourself up, and get back at working towards your goal is also available to everyone.

The more you learn from the failure and keep moving forward, the greater your chances of succeeding. Don’t let yourself be defined by a few failures in life. There is so much more to you than failure. 

Consistency – Keep at it. Don’t become a flash in the pan, who just did something once and then dropped it. You have to create a large body of high quality work to claim space. Literally, the larger your body of work, the more space the world will grant you. High quality is achieved by doing it over and over again. If your dream is to “become” an excellent painter, then keep painting – do the doing. As you focus on doing the doing, the becoming will happen.

Remember, the world will create space for you when you have the courage to claim it. If you don’t claim it, you will never get it.

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Photo – Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash