Moving the center of the fear

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This text in Dean Wesley Smith's blog on writer's fears inspired me:


So if you are having fear issues, move the fear over to not writing and not finishing.
I can tell you this for a fact: The idea of not writing and not finishing what I write scares the hell out of me.
Get help with your fears, move the fear to a fear of not writing.
And move the fear to a fear of not finishing.
Because not writing and not finishing are true failures.
I hate to tell you this folks: Every time you claim you want to write and then don’t write or don’t finish, everyone around you knows you are failing.
That should scare you more than anything  
https://deanwesleysmith.com/heinleins-rules-chapter-four/


I like this technique of moving the center of the fear to something else. It is applicable to many contexts when studying mathematics:

  • Fear to present math exercises in front of your peers? Move the fear to actually dropping because it feels unpleasant. You know that if you drop this means that you will keep having difficulties presenting in front of others and that will limit many of the things that you can do.
  • Fear that you will not be good enough to get a degree in maths even though you like maths? Move the fear to dropping because of this and then knowing later that you did not give it a fair chance and that you will be disappointed in yourself.
  • Fear that others will judge you or think that you are not smart? Move the fear from what others would think about you towards what you will think about yourself. If you do things to keep avoiding showing weaknesses, not acknowledging your mistakes, what do you think about yourself? How do you treat yourself?

Sometimes to overcome a fear, you just need a bigger one.

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