I remember when I went off to Le Cordon Bleu. There was a lot of fear that I wasn't a good cook. How was I going to survive in that environment? Hint...I went down the pastry path.
Not that it is easier, but it worked with my math mind and need for precise and accurate measurements. But during all that time, I learned to not be afraid in the kitchen. I can whip out any mother sauce now with the best of them!
After culinary school I headed to Boston to work with America's Test Kitchen. Here is where I learned the painstaking process of working with horrible recipes. But it all made sense.
I start with 5-10 recipes of what I'm looking to create. I cook all of them, exactly as stated in the recipe. I round up the taste testers and we decide what is good and what is bad about the recipe. Then my goal is to create a brand new fabulous one.
After all these years I'm getting pretty good at just looking at a recipe and knowing something is going to go wrong with it. Or that it is just poorly written and the average cook won't be able to figure it out.