Random Wisdom (or DUH)

Fear of failure is good. What!? I’ll say it again. Fear of failure is good. It is a signal that something important is on the line for you. And when something is important, you care about the result. And you know what result you don’t want, because that’s the failure you’re afraid of.

There are different ways to deal with fear of failure. You can try to ignore the feeling, you can take action to diminish the chance of failure or you can choose to let it paralyze you. In the last case your fear of failure has become a fear of doing, and by not doing you have already failed. The only thing you win by not doing is that you can tell yourself imaginary stories about how things would have turned out and how it was smart to save your energy for other things. Guess what? You still failed.

Let fear of failure be your signal to do whatever it takes to maximize your chances for success. Put some extra time into your preparation. Visualize the crucial steps so you are ready for them when you need to be. Also redefine failure. Failure is a possible outcome. Unless you are in total control, and you almost never are, different outcomes are possible. The outcome you call failure is still an outcome you can learn from. What do you need to change to get your desired outcome? Or maybe you should change your desired outcome.

Link “not doing” to “failing” in your mind, the next time you feel that fear of failure is holding you back. And remember, if you feel this way it must be important to you, important enough to do something about it!