Falling behind.

Feeling that we are falling behind is a common fear. Fear is a strange enemy. It freezes us from acting. Make us avoid taking the obvious next step. 

We feel like that because of our own image of ourselves. Sometimes it's our imagination of what people think of us. At other times we feel that way because of the rough, insensitive feedback we receive from people. And then there is a feeling that we are falling behind.

We feel the lack of progress because of our ability to poorly handle how people perceive us. We need external encouragement when, in fact, we should find an internal reinforcement of our own image of who we are.

Often emerging from the pressures of how others think of us requires us to do things. Try them and figure out the right ways to do them until we succeed, albeit it may require many attempts. In the process, we get bouquets or brickbats. Both are immaterial and unwarranted. All we need is to reinforce what we are trying to do. 

We must take external criticism or encouragement with a pinch of salt. It does not add much value when we are driven by our own priorities with clarity. To produce a great drawing, we must start drawing without worrying about what others will say to us.

When we can take external inputs with measured understanding and distill those into something that provides impetus to act, we will never feel a lack of progress.

Falling behind is a feeling driven by the emotional upheaval we go through in our minds because of an internal or external trigger.