In reading this post recently by Dean Wesley Smith, he articulates a sentiment that strikes a blow at the ego, which is a dare for us to be bad.

We can get so caught up in caring about how our work will be perceived, we stop ourselves from shipping it.
From showing it.
From sharing it with others.

Instead, we need to dare ourselves to just put it out there.

I love this because the mindset frees you.

Yeah, sure, it might be bad… and it might fail.

In fact, it might fail miserably.

And the more I think about my own failures, the more I realize I’ve been bad—a lot.

More times than I can remember, really.

Yet, here I am… still standing.
Still going.

Learning from all those experiences and daring to keep wading out into the deep to see if I can swim.

Really, the worst that can happen to you is—nothing. You are merely ignored in the midst of the endless stream of people also putting their work out there.

It doesn’t stand out, or mildly stands out and is forgotten quickly.

The only damage that ever occurs is to the ego, which is the force stopping a person from even trying. It’s our grandoise sense of self-importance in a cosmos that is 13.7 billion years old that protects us from even the mildest form of criticism.

I often tell people the worst thing that could happen to you is praise because it could lead to stagnation, at which point, when the praise stops… the bitterness sets in. Then you go from daring to be bad to actually being bad.

We can all dare to put ourselves out there as the worst thing that could happen is we learn something from it.

Seems like a great tradeoff to me.