Seth Godin Called Me Out On My Bullsh*t

I like Seth Godin. I don’t like saying “maybe it was writer’s block” to anyone who asks me why I haven’t posted in a month.

“Writer’s block is bad habits plus our inability to dance with fear. Our fear that we will be rejected.”

Have you ever thought about what stops you from giving your 100%? I was thinking about why I don’t write as often as I would like to, and as Seth suggested, I don’t really have writer’s block. No one does. What we’re afraid of is trying. What we’re afraid of is bad writing. And so what do we do in response? We self-handicap. Self-handicapping is basically what you do when you go out partying or watch Insider Food videos two days before your exam. It’s not like you want to do badly on the exam. It’s so that when you do badly you can attribute it to the hangover or the time you spent watching a video about Switzerland’s new cookie cafe, instead of attributing it to your ability. It’s a protective mechanism we use with the hope that potential failure won’t hurt our self-esteem---you won’t feel as bad about a low grade if you didn’t get the ‘opportunity’ to try in the first place. We don’t want to feel like we’re not good enough at the things we care about---and so an easy way to do that is to never try in the first place. It’s also why we’re scared of being vulnerable in our relationships. It’s because we don’t want to feel like we’re not good enough for the people we care about.

How will we ever grow if we don’t understand failure, rejection, and grief? When will we stop nodding our heads to quotes like “the real ‘failure’ is in never trying” and start embodying them instead? I’m not so sure. I guess all I’m really saying is I self-handicap with my writing. And I think I’m also saying that I’m going to post more. Seth Godin posts once a day everyday. So maybe, just maybe, I can commit to once a week. Here’s the first.