When I was a young kid I had crippling shyness and self consciousness. I fought it by repeating the mantra inside my head in uncomfortable situations "they'll never see you again" and it worked.
"My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, excellent situation, I am attacking." - Marshal Foch, 1914
Bobby, I always liked G.K. Chesterton's advice “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” Understand properly, this sounds like great advice for taking the first steps into new projects.
A man of true science uses but few hard words, whereas the smatterer in science thinks that by mouthing hard words he understand hard things. ---- Herman Melville.