Failure, it seems, is the other “F” word we rarely mention in polite conversation. Yet if we are working in the creative arts, we should—because rather than being something to avoid, failure is an integral part of a healthy creative process.
Until we understand this truth at a cellular level, we put our creativity in jeopardy. The fear of failure can stall us, and, in the end, become a major obstacle to completing our creative work.
Speaking from experience with my own work and that of my creativity clients, here are four common ways a fear of failure threatens our ability to complete creative work:
1. We create small. We repeat themes or styles or topics that were a success in the past. We play it safe rather than creating with courage and curiosity. Our work is stale, boring and not likely to be completed.
2. We’re easily distracted from our creative work-in-progress. If no outside diversions are handy, we create them. We avoid failure one interruption at a time. Sadly, such distractions knock us off track for an hour, day, week or more.
3. We abandon creative projects midstream to start something with more promise of ‘success,’ then quickly cast it off for another bright and shiny start. This stop-and-start work pattern creates nothing but an endless cycle of non-completion.
4. In a worst-case scenario, our hidden fear of failure grows so large, we may halt creating anything. We have not just abandoned our many uncompleted projects but our creative souls as well.
All of this is a high price to pay for an unreasonable—and many times unconscious—fear.
So, how do we combat fear of failure as creators? A good place to start is by understanding some truths behind that “F” word.
Truth #1: FAILURE IS AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR SUCCESS.
We don’t learn or discover or create without a so-called ‘failure’ or two along the way.
Thomas Edison’s beleaguered attempts to create a light bulb can serve as inspiration for our own creative journeys. As he himself famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Like Edison, we must commit ourselves to the long haul, relying on patience and persistence. Anytime a ‘failure’ arises as you work, give yourself permission to take a breather—three slow, deep breaths to the count of four—and recommit yourself to opening up to wherever the muse takes you next.
Truth #2: FAILURE DOESN’T DEFINE US; IT REFINES US.
Failure is a not just a natural part of the creative process, it is a useful tool for elevating our voices, vision, and versatility. Our unique and authentic creative self is refined each time we allow ourselves to ‘fail’ through trial and error, detours and dead ends…winding up at a creatively satisfying destination in our completed works.
Imagine one of those robotic floor vacuum sweepers in action. It zooms around the room, collecting whatever little bits it encounters in one direction, then swivels around to sweep in another direction, collecting more little bits there. By attacking the mess from every angle—sometimes even back-tracking—the sweeper has created a masterpiece of a clean floor.
A healthy creative process proceeds similarly. We explore in one direction, discover something new, file that knowledge away, then go down other creative alleyways, one at a time. Our skills, knowledge and confidence grow when we allow ourselves to create in this manner
We must expect twists and turns on our creative path. Our “failures” guide us toward creative completion in a sure, if somewhat zig-zag, way.
TRUTH #3: FAILURE IS A JUDGEMENT, NOT A FACT.
Rather than an objective fact, failure is a subjective judgment, often formed by others. We may buy into ideas about failure consciously or unconsciously. But we don’t have to! We ourselves are the only ones qualified to define ‘failure’ or ‘success’ in our work. And remember, it serves us well not to judge anything during the creative process itself.
TRUTH #4: FAILURE EXISTS ONLY WHERE EXPECTATION EXISTS.
Expectation is the enemy of happiness…and creativity. If we go into our creative process expecting a specific outcome, in a specific time frame, we open ourselves up to judging our work-in-progress as either a “failure” or “success”. Can you be curious about all your discoveries?
TRUTH #4: IF WE TREAT FAILURE KINDLY, IT WILL RETURN THAT KINDNESS.
We all must rethink the language we use in self-talk as we travel the naturally twisting path of creation. Before our inner critics even gets the chance to chide us for a ‘failure, ‘we can instead congratulate ourselves for a brave experiment. In addition, we can also be kinder in our evaluations of what we’ve bumped into along our merry, messy way by asking ourselves positively framed questions such as “what’s working here?” or “what did I just learn from this?” or “what can I try next?” to help us decide what to keep or discard for our next go-round.
I believe if we can frame failure in a positive light, if we name it and claim it as the valuable mentor, and guide it was always meant to be, we can gather much that supports our creative life.
TRUTH #5: FAILURE ISN’T FATAL; IT BRINGS CREATIVITY TO LIFE.
For years, a fear of failure held me hostage. It still sometimes rears its ugly head! But I’ve learned that a failure, public or private, is not the end of things. Rather, it is the beginning of something that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. Failure truly sparks my creative spirit.
Welcoming the necessity of ‘failure’ to our creative process turns each detour into an opportunity to grow our technical skills and self-confidence as a creator. It eliminates one more potential obstacle to success at completing our creative projects, too.
Yes, failure is an option. And a smart one, at that.
3 Tips for Coaches:
- PLAY DETECTIVE. Ask open-ended questions that will encourage your client to explore negative beliefs hiding behind a fear of failure. Perhaps “why do you think you’ve come to a stop? “or ‘how do you fear you might fail here?’ or ‘which aspect of this project causes you doubt?” or ‘what would failure look like to your way of thinking?” will help start a useful discussion. It needn’t be a lengthy or complicated conversation—just enough to tag the major block to creative completion. Then ask, “is this negative self-belief true?” Almost always, the answer is no. A false belief is easier to disbelieve.
- ENCOURAGE AND EMPOWER. Whatever the suspected underlying cause of fear, you can help your client flip the switch on their relationship to failure. Ask, “what would you do here if you knew you couldn’t fail?” After actively listening to the responses, you might give assurances that all these things can be done, because happily, there is no such thing as a failure in the creative process. Your assurance that so-called ‘failures’ are nothing more than necessary steps will empower your creative client to complete that work-in-process with confidence. Ask your client to visualize himself or herself as a young child at play in the sandbox or finger-painting in preschool. There was no fear of failure there, was there? Assure your client can be that he or she be a creative free spirit as a grownup, too.
- FILL THEIR TOOLBOX. Working together, brainstorm the tools and techniques that will help your client tame the fear of failure when creating. Together, create a menu of habits that support the healthy acceptance of so-called failures and mistakes. This might include affirmations, meditations, breathwork, rituals, inspirational quotes, journaling prompts, or daily practices. What seems to resonate with your client? It’s important to generate something that works for the individual and to resist ‘fixing’ things in a rote manner.
3 Tips for Creatives:
- MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS. Remember, our work can only be judged a failure or success when we expect a particular outcome. Take a moment to write down any expectation you might have with your work-in-progress. Then destroy the piece of paper you’ve put them on—crumple and toss in the trash, rip it to confetti in the document shredder, even burn it to ashes. Poof! Once expectations and fear of failure are released, dive into creating. Chances are you will not only complete that project, but you’ll have fun doing it.
- CREATE A FAILURE-FRIENDLY MINDSET. Populate your workspace with reminders of failure’s valuable presence in your creative process. Post inspirational quotes on post-it notes; create and display simple affirmations such as “failures are steps to completion” or “when I create, I cannot fail”. Weave supportive practices into your workday as well. Light a candle as a signal to the universe that you’re ready to let your creative light shine no matter the twists and turns of your process. Sit quietly for a minute of meditation before you set to work, breathing deeply and repeating in your mind an affirmation that resonates with your creative soul, such as “failure fuels my creative process” or “failure is my teacher and friend”.
- FAIL LIKE A CHAMP. Remember the words of author C.S. Lewis, “Failures, repeated failures, are posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.” See if you can internalize the truth that failure is a necessary step toward creative expansion and completion. Think about past times in which you thought you had failed at your creative task. Did you really fail, in the end? My guess is you will find lots of personal examples tthat illustrate the transformative power of allowing mistakes and failures to bring new knowledge and skill into your work.