Don’t let self-doubt hold you back

Joāo Baptista Pachini had never been to Africa. So, when the bishop of Porto commissioned him to paint the ceiling panels of his cathedral’s chapter house, he may have had a few sleepless nights. In modern parlance, he would have suffered anxiety. He may even have found the brief problematic. It almost certainly affected his mental wellbeing. Why?

The task was to paint a centrepiece of Michael the Archangel and surround him with fourteen allegoric representation of virtues. One of those virtues is fortitude (I think), represented by a woman on a lion holding an arrow. I imagine the tail end of the brief went like this:

Bishop: “...oh, and by the way Joāo, we want you to include our favourite virtue, fortitude, by painting a strong woman on a lion. OK?"

Artist: “Of course, your grace. No problem”.

Some time later…

Artist: “Guys, we’re screwed. The bishop wants us to paint a lion. A LION! I know it’s 1719 and we’re supposed to be wordly, but who the hell knows what a lion looks like?”

Apprentice: “Don’t worry boss, how hard can it be? I heard they have great big blond bouffes and piercing eyes. Sounds like Mariana from the market? Let’s use her as a model.”

I know I’ve used a lot of artistic license in the above (no pun intended), but look at the painting. You’ll know beyond a doubt that the artist had never seen a lion. But did that stop him? Nah. He just sat Mariana down in his studio and painted her head onto the body of a dog/horse/pig. And why not? In 1719 hardly anyone else would have a lion either. Which brings me to the point.

Never let a lack of knowledge, experience or skill stop you. Break eggs. Make mistakes. Be wrong. It’s how you learn and fewer people than you think will notice anyhow.

Even today, as scores of people filed through the chapter house staring at the ceiling, not one of them stopped and said: “that’s not a lion”. Everyone knew it was a lion. It doesn’t look like a lion, but it’s close enough that the painting works.

We hear a lot about self-doubt and imposter syndrome holding us back. But, very few things need to perfect because our brains fill gaps all the time.

So, whatever you’re not doing now, stop not doing it. Just give it a go. If Joāo can paint a lion and put it on display, never having seen one, what’s holding you back?

Bonus material

In case you’re interested in humanimals like me, I found these beauties in Porto too. A sheep modelled on Barry the scaffolder and a dog modelled on Steve from the pub.