The idea of fear in research is not a new one. I'm reminded of the classic quotes by Dirac, "Scientific progress advances in units of courage, not intelligence

The idea of fear in research is not a new one. I'm reminded of the classic quotes by Dirac, "Scientific progress advances in units of courage, not intelligence." and of the classic essay by Ivan Sutherland, "Courage and Technology." I think fear can be a valuable signal. If your success rate is a discouraging 1%, fear might be trying to tell you that you need to find a smarter way to solve the problem than blind (or even moderately educated) guessing. Often in mathematics, at least, you can discover things about the structure of a solution before you find it, things which in turn can help you find the solution. Often the discouragement of a few failed attempts pushes me to step back and trying to think about the problem in a deeper and smarter way.