Doubt

How much life have I missed out on because of doubt?

Going into this piece I was feeling it. Here I had done, in my opinion, some of my best work on this clients commissions. Kraven, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Vulture, and Electro. Just one home run after another.

The last of the Sinister Six (for this particular client) Sandman was all that was left, and I simply had no clue what I was going to do.

I wanted to live up to the standards of those other pieces. I wanted to let Sandman shine. But when pondering it I was simply doubtful that I could make anything remotely cool happen. I was convinced it was going to be a rough go. I just “KNEW” I was going to have to battle my psyche the whole way through, and frankly, I didn’t want to.

I have at least managed to train my ego enough to be willing to fail. I had a session scheduled, so begrudgingly, I sat down.

And lo and behold, it was the easiest of the 6. I did one rough sketch and to my surprise it felt right immediately. I did a couple more roughs just to make sure, but came to the same conclusion.

Within a couple hours this piece was done.

I spent more time torturing myself for failing something I hadn’t even attempted.

Let’s all be honest here… that’s just stupid.

Don’t invest your time doubting your capabilities. It’s a waste. You’d be better off spending that time ACTUALLY failing than spending it inside your head.

Whatever it is you think you want to do, please just go do it. Fail your way into greatness. Fail your way into being GOOD at something useful.

Because not trying is simply way worse for all of us.