![skitched-20180220-114703.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmagUBNykvNCY4hWGtmVJe5XTzSWxiUQmZPhcdtXmQ3sED/skitched-20180220-114703.jpg)

Do you worry about critics, trolls, flames, and negative comments?

One of the challenges I face as a blogger, content creator, manager, and maker is anxiety, and a key way it manifests is with self-doubt imposter syndrome and analysis paralysis.

It's a challenge but I do have some ways to help cope with it, even if they do not eliminate it altogether.

### My strategy

What helps me, and what might help you, is I try to approach everything a little different to how we might have been trained.

* Projects are experiments

* Learning by teaching

* Conversations not promotions

### Projects are experiments

![2018-02-10 15.11.18.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUuCYmT6BS7wt3tVn6QLovgi7ErxGy85yBqw2AiDxZmMF/2018-02-10%2015.11.18.jpg)

Seeking or expecting perfection sets you up to fail before you even begin.

Instead, if you look at everything you are doing as part of an ongoing experiment in iterative improvement then things that don't go as planned are opportunities for learning, not embarrassing failures. 

Plan, and plan well, just don't expect everything to go according to that plan. Mitigate risk and you will reduce worry, just don't dwell on the what-if scenarios to the exclusion of practicality.

![Chris Garrett.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRsckNW7VApdwwFodHQk9hVSNtcVBCgmwXszW7127yvMj/Chris%20Garrett.png)


### Learning by teaching

When I learn something new I like to pass along that knowledge. I have found that thinking about things in that way actually helps me learn.

Something special happens when you formulate your thoughts around explaining something to someone else.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CClEB4jUwAAJIwP.png
https://twitter.com/prestonpysh/status/588076026166517760

To avoid falling into the trap of "imposter syndrome", however, it is important to speak as someone on that learning journey, rather than as someone who has superiority. Even if other people see you as someone who has "made it", it's important to remember we are all learning, always.

I try to learn from almost everyone I meet, it doesn't matter if they have a PHD or are coming into a field as a fresh noob.

We all have our individual struggles, and we all have our ways to work with or around them. This leads me to my final point ...

### Conversations not promotions

In the twenty-something years I have been blogging, one of the biggest recurring themes has been around markets being conversations. It was most famously expressed and coined in the seminal [Cluetrain Manifesto](http://www.cluetrain.com/).

What that means is the communication is never one-way, even if you wanted it to be. 

Accept that there will always be feedback. Encourage it, expect it, and work with it.

The feedback will often be harsh, mean, unfair, about them, not you. They might argue with their own hallucination, even. But you will also learn.

## Agree or disagree? What are your experiences? Please share your thoughts in the comments ...