How to overcome the fear of failure.
Winston Churchill stated that success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. Experiencing failure in any area of our lives is scary. In the act of failing, it shows that we are taking risks. By having the courage to take these risks, we pave the way for great possibilities. The biggest barrier to success is our inherent fear of failure. It can paralyze us, making it difficult to move forward and achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. Fear is a destroyer of dreams as it robs us by replacing hope with doubt. In addition, fear causes indecision. As we are on the long road to success, the fear of failure needs to be overcome. We need to escape or increase our comfort zone.
1.) Find value in past failure.
Finding the value in your past failures can help you in the process of overcoming the fear of failure. Failure is inevitable, so when you do fail it is important to learn from your mistakes. When failure does strike, you need to reflect on why the failure happened. Why did the failure happen, was there anything that you could have done to prevent or help the situation? Sometimes there is something that you could have done differently that could have prevented the failure. No matter what area of your life that you are struggling, you need to think deeply and be accountable. Forbes (2018) state that “the most painful of failures represent an opportunity to grow. If failures are the undesired results of our experiments, refine them and continue moving forward.” As everyone fails, the courage comes from persistence. Michael Jordan said that “I can accept failure; everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
2.) Jump out of your comfort zone.
When doing an overview of your comfort zone, it is important to know what is not in your comfort zone. You need to know is what is outside of your comfort zone. When you know what is outside of your comfort zone, you need to work towards growing your comfort zone bigger. Each time that we make the decision to jump out of our comfort zones, the next time we step into that space it will become easier.
Some ways that you can step outside of your comfort zone:
a.) Make changes to your daily routine.
b.) Learn something new.
c.) Face your fear of failure.
3.) Treat yourself kindly when you do experience failure.
Treating ourselves kindly, or rather “self compassion ” through failure is essential. The Harvard Business Review states that there is research that self-compassion is very closely related to emotional resilience, recognise our mistakes, learn from them and succeed. While noting how self compassion is associated with emotional resilience, The Harvard Business Review also mentions that there are 3 components to self-compassion.
a.) Mindfulness: As mentioned previously, becoming mindful can be the answer to being more present and productive. While our lives can sometimes feel like an overwhelming buzz. Becoming mindful is the simple ability to being fully present, conscious of your surroundings, where you are, and what you are doing. We need to be mindful of ourselves and know that we are struggling when we are struggling.
b.) Common Humanity: We need to understand that we are not alone. We are also not the first to experience failure. Although it sometimes feels like walk alone on our road of life, we are not alone. The answer to not taking failure so badly, would be that other people have experienced and felt the same way as you.
c.) Self-Kindness: Encouraging ourselves, validating how we feel or simply enjoying our first cup of coffee in the morning or taking a moment to watch the sunset. In having self-compassion for yourself, you are well on your way to not fearing failure.
