Hey there!
I hit 33,000 likes on a drawing. Gained 1,300 followers in two days. Got people asking for art advice in my DMs.
My response? I spent 72 hours finding sophisticated reasons to stop doing what clearly worked.
If you’ve ever had something go well and then felt an overwhelming urge to pivot away or quit entirely, this one’s for you.
Let’s dig in.
I wrote about this pattern two months before it happened to me
Back in August, I posted:
Then October 1st hit. The viral post happened. And I got to watch myself do exactly what I warned about.
Here’s what nobody tells you: knowing about self-sabotage doesn’t make you immune to it. I caught myself spiraling almost immediately. And I couldn’t do anything about it. The more I tried to stop the overthinking, the more attached to it I became.
My brain did everything it could to turn every small obstacle into an insurmountable dead end.
Success triggers the exact same pattern as failure, just better disguised
Last year I posted a tutorial that hit 4,500 likes. I made a few more. They got little attention. So I switched to motivational text posts that got 5 likes each, then stopped posting entirely for months.
The cycle was always the same:
- Get unexpected success with educational content
- Try to replicate it a few times
- Panic about being “locked in” to one thing
- Switch to something safer
- That fails too
- Use the failure as permission to quit
I thought I was being strategic. I was actually just running from commitment.
The pattern isn’t “I fail and give up”, it’s “I succeed and immediately find reasons to stop before the real work starts”.
Your brain will offer very reasonable-sounding excuses to quit
When my torso studies got flagged as sensitive content, my mind went into protection mode:
“What if I get shadowbanned?” “What if my account gets permanently banned?” “Should I make a test account to check posts first?”
I spent hours researching disaster scenarios with a 0.01% chance of happening. The research felt productive. The contingency planning felt responsible. But it was all just elaborate avoidance of the simple work: posting anatomy studies consistently.
Your Resistance doesn’t say “quit” It says “maybe focus on this other important thing first”. It sounds like wisdom. It’s actually just fear dressed up as strategic thinking.
The real fear is losing the comfortable identity you’ve built
Here’s what I was actually afraid of: I’d finally established a system. My calendar had balance. I was writing regularly and drawing a bit on the side.
Then overnight, it all got flipped upside down.
The data was screaming: your anatomy studies are what people actually need from you. But accepting that felt like betrayal. Like I was abandoning my authentic self to chase likes.
The truth was simpler: I’d been identifying with my writing because it felt safer than putting my actual art skills on display. Changing priorities from writing to anatomy shouldn’t have been a big deal. But it meant letting go of the comfortable identity of “still figuring it out”.
I thought committing to anatomy meant being trapped as “just the anatomy guy”, but that fear was backwards. More people discovering my studies means more people will also find my writing.
When something works, your ego will fight back ruthlessly
After 2-3 days of pure bliss from the viral post, I crashed hard. The high was intense, the crash was just as intense.
That’s when the real sabotage started. I got a couple commission requests. People asked for advice. Everything was telling me the same thing: you’re meant to teach anatomy.
But instead of celebrating, I catastrophized about shadowbans for 3 days.
That’s the pattern. When reality gives you clear evidence something works, your Resistance immediately creates a crisis to distract you from acting on it.
I’m subscribed to 10 accounts that post almost exclusively anatomy studies. They’re successful. Likely making money. Building audiences. Yes, their art gets flagged sometimes. Yes, not every post goes viral. No, they don’t stop.
That’s all the proof I needed. But when I found this evidence, my brain tried to dismiss it: “Yeah but they’re different”.
Here’s how to actually break the pattern when you’re in it
Notice you’re doing it. When you’re researching problems that haven’t happened yet, that’s the sign. When you suddenly want to pivot after something works, that’s the sign.
Stop trying to think your way out. The more I tried to “solve” the anxiety, the worse it got. Your brain is trying to trap you in analysis paralysis. The only way out is action, not more thinking.
Do the experiment, then follow the data. The anatomy study was an experiment. It went exceptionally well. That’s data. If something you post truly takes off, that’s clear feedback. Don’t ignore it because it doesn’t match the identity you planned.
You’re not betraying yourself. You’re not “selling out”. You’re doing what people actually need from you.
Accept that your ego will fight back. After the high of success, there will be a crash. Your ego will use your biggest weaknesses against you: fear of being trapped, fear of commitment, fear of being seen. It will feel like you’re going crazy. That’s supposed to happen.
The fog cleared for me on day 6. Now I see the road forward clearly.
What to do when you catch yourself in the pattern
The moment you notice yourself researching problems that haven’t happened yet or finding reasons to pivot after something works, stop.
Ask yourself one question: “If I wasn’t afraid, what would I do next?”
Then do that thing.
If a post went viral, make another one like it. If your art got traction, make another one. If your writing resonated, write more. Do more of the actual thing that got results.
Don’t wait until you feel ready. Don’t wait until you’ve solved all potential problems. The anxiety doesn’t leave until after you prove it wrong through action.
The data doesn’t lie. Your fear does.
