In the dimestores and the bus stations people talk of situations
read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall.
Some speak of the future, my love she speaks softly,
she knows there's no success like failure
and that failure's no success at all.

--Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”

One of the notions from pop psychology that has found a warm reception from writers at all levels is the “fear of success.” This fear is expressed as a justifi-cation for our procrastination or unwillingness to follow through with our intentions in completing a manuscript, seeking an agent, submitting our work for publication, marketing, publicizing, or any other aspect of publication.

The fear of success also finds a welcome audience outside the writing world as a rationale for proceeding cautiously in business, the arts, dealing with finances, academic performance, competitive sports, and even in our social relations in the choice of a partner.

First, we tell ourselves our reluctance to initiate, sustain, or complete a writing-related task is due to our fear of success because this sounds like a “good” excuse for procrastinating. Then we proceed to try and identify all the possible new and scary consequences that success would force us to confront in our lives, and why these imagined consequences are worthy of being avoided. It sounds something like this:

“If an agent likes my work and takes me on, I’ll probably be forced to alter my story to fit her agenda. It will be the first compromising step of a downward spiral of my creative integrity. After my agent changes it, I’ll be forced to change it again to fit some editor’s latest concept du jour of what will sell.

Then the marketing committee will get their mitts on it, telling me I have to change the title. My story will get lost in the process, homogenized to read like every other formulaic __________ [fill in the blank: chit lit; thriller; self-help; young adult; romance, paranormal suspense, mystery, etc] book out there.

If that’s not enough, think what’ll happen after they finally decide to buy it and I get a big advance! Then the expectations of the publisher will be too high for me to meet and they’ll drop me when the book doesn’t sell well enough. They’ll expect me to go out and do a book tour and—God knows—I hate to deal with the public and all that publicity that’ll come when the book is popular with the media. And I couldn't stand to be away from my family and away from my WIP!

And if it sells well, readers will turn into fans and expect me to answer their e-mail. I’ll be put on the spot by radio hosts and interviewed by all kinds of media. And, you know, being exposed to every screwball on Amazon and everywhere else who doesn’t like seeing the protag lose her husband at the end of the story—all the bad reviews.

And if my book does so well that I earn out my advance, then will they want me to write a whole series? I mean, I’ll have to give up my crappy day job—but, you know, at least it’s a steady income with no pressure. My whole life will change! The pressure to perform will never end, each successful book meaning I’m only a step away from falling into oblivion with my next release…”

Now, it’s certainly true that some or all of these things are possible along the successful author’s path and must be dealt with as they appear. But my point is really a more fundamental one. And here it is:

There really is no such thing as the fear of success. Because when you look closely at the fear of success, what you discover is that it’s simply the fear of failure in drag!

Back when I first heard the term the “fear of success,” I was in graduate school, in the early seventies. I had a visiting professor named Dr. Albert Ellis, who is the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and perhaps the most prolific author in the history of psychology. He is now in his nineties, in frail health, but still conducting public demonstrations in New York City—and still publishing. When he said that all fear of success was really the fear of failure, I thought about it for some time and understood what he meant.

And what he meant was that we mistakenly think that a desirable state of affairs sometime in the future, that we label “success” seems scary to us right now. So we think it is the successful state we are afraid of instead of seeing that its just another rendition of failure. The role of failure as a great way for us to learn mental toughness and emotional self-support will have to wait for another time.

But the next time you find yourself thinking that you are procrastinating with your writing because of a fear of success, just call it what it is—your fear of failure—and then face it squarely and move on.

© 2006 Steven Hendlin, Ph.D.

Steven Hendlin, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in Newport Beach, California
who has been in private practice for 30 years. Formerly a columnist for TheStreet.com for 74 consecutive weeks, he currently writes the “Shrink Rap” column for COAST Magazine. Dr. Hendlin is the author of four books and hundreds of professional and popular articles, reviews, and columns.

Visit him at www.hendlin.net. He is pleased to receive your comments and questions for publication in his Backspace column at shrink.rap1@yahoo. com, but please remember that he is unable to provide personal counseling or psychotherapy through the mail.