Don't Try Too Hard!

Ever read Catcher in the Rye?

The main character—Holden Caulfield—is a cynical, nihilistic kid. On the surface, he seems pretty tough, too.

Holden calls the kids who try hard in school phonies. They’re all playing some kind of silly game that Holden is way too cool to play. Meanwhile, his mediocre school performance and disruptive behavior are becoming too much for school officials, so they ultimately expel him.

Author JD Salinger gradually makes it apparent that Holden’s behavior is an elaborate defense mechanism, largely designed to protect his ego from failure. If you don't really put forth your best effort, he reasons, you can't possibly truly be embarrassed.

Being afraid of failure is bad enough. It has caused indecision at critical moments, paralyzing the powerful. Fear of failure has also caused some awful decision making, like times when something even worse came true.

The specific type of fear that Salinger describes is even more sinister, and it can afflict anyone. You’re not…