The Fear of Failing

Everyone has a dream, a goal they want to achieve, a passion, a talent. We all know someone that falls into one of those. However, how many do we know that actually achieve those goals, pursue that passion, or use that talent? Most common answer, very few, if any. Why? Fear of failure.

I’ve been a music fanatic since I was a child and that fascination slowly turned into a love and then a passion. I dabbled with production during my middle and high school years but never really committed. It wasn’t until after my graduation that I decided to fully pursue and make my love for music a viable source of income, and therefore started my journey. Sounds great, but in the midst of that there were moments of doubt, insecurity, and urges to quit, and for many that one wall is all it takes to stifle a dream.

We live in a society that glorifies success but really down plays the failures or hardships that come along with it. Why? Because a video of a party on a yacht looks a lot better than one of you being in a room full of frustration because you can’t write a verse, or you’ve had beat block for an hour and think you were never meant to do this in the first place. With everyone wanting to magnify the wins and turn an eye to the losses it creates a downward slant that can be hard to overturn. We all want to be the guy in the studio with all the equipment, getting touring money, and living in the big house, and when we don’t see that we get discouraged. We’re so afraid to fall completely and be looked at as failures that many people kill their opportunities before they even get one. We become so afraid of not “making it”, of proving the naysayers right, that we don’t even try.

What’s the solution? Patience and Work Ethic. Any person that you know or follow got his or her success through hard work. Those two things are key especially for creatives because that’s our bread and butter. If you work hard enough, and stay the course, your time will come and your talent will be showcased. Many artists drop mixtape after mixtape, producers send out beat after beat, before anything happens. Whether it’s J.Cole and Kendrick, or a young producer like Metro Boomin’, you may have your own musical opinions, but you can’t ignore the work they’ve put in to get to where they are. If it’s in you to make it, you’ll get there. Like Hov said way back in ’96, you can’t Knock the Hustle.