Murphy’s Law: The More You Fear, The More It Happens
Why Writers Stay Stuck—And How to Break Free
VijayWrites #124
Welcome to VijayWrites—where you’ll find inspiration, tips, and ideas to help you write better, master the art of copywriting, and make a career out of your words.
Welcome to this new series. Over the next few emails, we’ll explore five powerful laws—principles that shape how we think, work, and succeed as writers and freelancers.
Some of these might be familiar. Others might surprise you. But once you see how they apply to your writing, your business, and your career, things will start to shift.
Let’s start with the first one.
Murphy’s Law
Murphy’s Law states:
"The more you fear something happening, the more likely it is to occur."
This idea comes from engineering and risk management, where it means "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." But beyond machines and systems, it applies to human behavior.
When we fixate on what could go wrong, we unconsciously take actions—or avoid actions—that make it come true.
Fear becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Why This Law Works Against You
Think about how this plays out in writing and freelancing.
You fear writing a bad draft. So you avoid writing altogether.
You fear rejection. So you don’t pitch clients.
You fear criticism. So you never hit publish.
And because you don’t act, you don’t improve. The bad draft never gets written, the client never replies, and the work never gets out.
The thing you feared the most—failure, rejection, stagnation—becomes your reality.
Not because you weren’t good enough.
Not because success wasn’t possible.
But because you hesitated long enough for the fear to win.
How This Affects Writers and Freelancers
The best writers and freelancers aren’t fearless. They just act despite the fear.
They send the pitch.
They write the bad first draft.
They publish when the piece is good enough—not perfect.
Fear doesn’t disappear. But action shrinks it.
On the other hand, hesitation strengthens it. Every time you delay, the fear grows stronger. You start believing the voice in your head that says, "Maybe I’m not good enough."
Not because it’s true. But because you never tested it.
The Way Out
There’s only one way to break Murphy’s Law: Move before you feel ready.
Write for 10 minutes without stopping.
Send that email to a potential client.
Publish the post even if it’s not perfect.
Action proves fear wrong.
You’re not bad at writing. You’re just avoiding the reps.
You’re not bad at freelancing. You’re just not giving yourself a chance to improve.
Fear feeds on inaction. Starve it by doing.
More soon. Next, we’ll talk about Kidlin’s Law and how it solves half of your problems.