We experience [procrastination] as fear. But fear of what? Fear of the consequences of following our heart. Fear of bankruptcy, fear of poverty, fear of insolvency. Fear of groveling when we try to make it on our own, and of groveling when we give up and come crawling back to where we started. Fear of being selfish, of being rotten wives or disloyal husbands; fear of failing to support our families, of sacrificing their dreams for ours. Fear of betraying our race, our 'hood, our homies. Fear of failure. Fear of being ridiculous. Fear of throwing away the education, the training, the preparation that those we love have sacrificed so much for, that we ourselves have worked our butts off for. Fear of launching into the void, of hurtling too far out there; fear of passing some point of no return, beyond which we cannot recant, cannot reverse, cannot rescind, but must live with this cocked-up choice for the rest of our lives. Fear of madness. Fear of insanity. Fear of death. These are serious fears. But they're not the real fear. Not the master fear, the mother of all fears that's so close to us that even when we verbalize it we don't believe it. Fear That We Will Succeed. Steven Pressfield
About This Quote

It is interesting that we think we will fail when we head to the gym and exercise, but we don't think we will succeed. We want to succeed, but we always think that what we do won't work. The fear of failing is a big barrier for us. Most of us feel that the only way to succeed is to go out and take risks.

We need to avoid failure, because it can cause us a lot of mental pressures. If you achieve something and fail at the same time, it will be difficult for you to achieve something else. For example: If you achieve success and fail, it will be difficult for you to achieve success again because you will be afraid of taking risks and making mistakes.

If you fail and succeed, it will be difficult for you to achieve both at the same time. You can only repeat your successes or repeat your failures as long as they are not too big or too risky.

Source: The War Of Art: Break Through The Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

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  2. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done. - Vincent Van Gogh
  3. Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep. - Clive Barker
  4. Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you. - Chuck Klosterman
  5. There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. - Vincent Van Gogh
More Quotes By Steven Pressfield
  1. A cavalryman's horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.
  2. A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.
  3. The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
  4. We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.
  5. Next morning I went over to Paul’s for coffee and told him I had finished. “Good for you, ” he said without looking up. “Start the next one today.
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