3 Easy Steps to Overcome the Fear of Failure
The fear of failure is called “Atychiphobia” in psychological language, but, this fear is present in everyone. Our success in any area of our lives highly depends upon our willingness to overcome this obstacle.
We all are afraid of losing, even the most successful people in the world are troubled by this fear. However, they have learned the lesson that facing the fear is better than running away from it, this difference in the perspective is what sets them apart from others.
Millions of dreams have been shattered because people are not willing to take the risks. Any successful person will tell you how important it is to take the risks in life if you want to be successful.
We are not totally responsible for the fact that the thoughts of failure terrifies us, our society has trained our minds in a way that we look at “failure” as some kind of ruthless enemy, when in truth it is our best friend. Why? – Because they are the best teachers.
Whenever something doesn’t work out, you get aware of one path that is not to be taken next time. That’s how Edison found the right way to invent the electric bulb, you might have heard his famous quote “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Yeah I know such thoughts look good in philosophies. But, in reality, even though we might have forgotten, that is how we had all our proud accomplishments.
For example, do you think that any kid in the world would have learned to walk without falling down numerous times? Obviously NO, still no kid ever refuses to give another try just because they fear getting hurt. Yes, we are born winners.
Symptoms
Despite the fact you know when you are scared thinking about unfavorable outcomes, knowing these few common signs will help you to know that fear is controlling your actions:-
1- Physical symptoms may include nausea, increased heart rate, shortness of breath, shivering of hands/legs, perspiration etc., when you either think of doing something or take any decision.
2- Another symptom is holding oneself back from doing something because of the thoughts of getting embarrassed in front of others.
3- Procrastination is a very common symptom as we often avoid doing things because we are actually afraid of the results of that particular action.
4- Fear of the Unknown- You might have heard this phrase before “known devil is better than an unknown angel”, if you buy into that then this is one very obvious symptom that you cannot stand failure since that’s why you always choose to play safely.
Root Causes
The fear of losing as I have already mentioned is something that is present in all of us, however the degree to which this fear affects us varies for everyone depending on a few factors which may become apparent from the causes that I am going to enlist below.
1- Fight or Flight Response
This is instinctual because it is one of the oldest brain mechanisms that has helped our species to survive during the early days, it is the animal part in us which either attacks or runs away whenever faced with a threat. Both “attacking” and “fleeing” are based on fear.
Unfortunately, even after evolving to become the most powerful species on the planet, this trait is still present in us, this is one of the reasons why we are afraid of thinking out of the box.
2- Fear of Losing What One Has Currently
Here’s the thing that makes most of us to refrain from making a courageous decision to take the first step towards our dreams.
Thoughts that tell us that we will lose love, financial security, friends, family support etc. are responsible for keeping us stuck in the current life.
Such fears are based on the mindset that you will definitely fail. So, it is very important to think optimistically about your goals otherwise, these negative thought patterns will make your future look like a nightmare.
3- Desire to Be Perfect
We all want to be perfect in whatever we do, so we don’t like to take some decisions thinking that we are not capable of executing the plans perfectly right now.
That day will never come when we will become perfect to do something because there is no such thing as perfection.
You are perfect to do everything you want to do right now because we all are imperfectly perfect.
So one very bold thing you can do right now is to begin doing what you want and you will get better at what you do with experience.
4- Self-Image
This is the most important point that I wanted to bring into your awareness, because this particular thing controls all our behavioral patterns.
One can work hard to reach their goals, take bold decisions yet they will find themselves in the state of fear that will ruin all their efforts, if they have a weak self-image.
Self-image is a set of ideas present in our subconscious mind that describes “who we are”, these ideas were planted in our inner mind as a result of many incidents that occurred when we were growing up.
For example- Family and society often judge a child’s potential on the basis of their academic performance, this causes the innocent child to accept that they are not “good enough” and that’s how their self-image is formed.
It is so stupid for someone to think that they are not worthy, but internally we all have this limiting belief working to make us pessimistic, doubtful and indecisive.
If you are someone who fears to take actions that might change your life, then there is a great chance that you have a weak self-image.
Deal with Your Fear of Failure Using These 3 Simple Methods
As promised, I am now going to provide a few methods that can help you in dealing with this kind of fear. Take these actions right away and be persistent with these methods and I am sure that you will succeed because they have had a great impact on my own life.
1- Have Someone to Motivate You
There is a reason why many successful people have mentors. We all need someone to encourage us when the fear takes over our lives.
If you are in a state from where you find it hard to proceed because you are uncertain about the future, someone who is there to support you can fill your energy with the much needed motivation.
A person who is in a good state of mind can pull you out of that downward spiral like a tow truck.
I understand that finding a mentor or a person who motivates you during hard times is not possible for everyone as I too was not so lucky to have someone like that when I began my online business journey as a personal development blogger, but, you know what? I got coached by the best mentors in the world. How? I supercharged my mind with positive ideas by reading books, opting for self-help programs and watching the videos of personal development gurus on You Tube!
I also owe a lot to Bob Proctor’s 6 minutes to success program that gave me a daily dose of inspiration to stay focused, so I would recommend that to you as well.
2- Creative Visualization
We talked about the “self-image” earlier and here is the method using which you can change your old self-image.
Creative visualization is a process where you imagine the positive outcomes with good feelings, this way. you communicate your intentions to your inner mind. If you feel that it is not possible for you to visualize then this post will help you:-Don’t Say “I Don’t Know How to Use Creative Visualization”- You Are Already Good at It!.
Another important thing is that you should act on the inspirations that you receive during this process. Even if you receive a small idea that will take you nearer to your goals, then do it.
We find it intimidating when we think of taking a huge leap towards our goals, but taking a few small steps is easy, one step at a time and you will slowly make the progress.
3- Feel the Fear
Our mind has the tendency to make our fears look like a giant monster that will destroy us, we run away from our fears because we believe in what our mind says.
The good news is “our fears are not really that horrendous as it appears to us”. In fact the state of dreadfulness brought by unpleasant thoughts that we get whenever we are about to make a decision to cause a change in life is more distressing than the actual action itself, in most cases you will find that your fears were totally unwarranted.
So, stop running away from what you fear, feel it, embrace it, accept it and then make your first move.
You should have the curiosity to unveil the truth despite of being terrified because if you won’t, that feeling will keep getting stronger, and it will keep petrifying you over and over again in various different forms.
Another kind of fear that often accompanies Atychiphobia is “Metathesiophobia” which the psychological term for the fear of change, you can read more about it here: – Do You Find Adapting to a New Life Difficult?-The Fear of Change,“Metathesiophobia”.
We all have had moments when we have achieved something by winning the battle with our fears, the accomplishments could be big or small but they matter a lot because in those moments we believed in ourselves so, let’s relive those events, share your story by commenting in the box below.
I hope you liked this post, please leave me your comments in the box below, it will motivate me and help me to improve my blog’s content. If I missed anything important then please do mention it in the comment section.
You can send your emails using the contact page, I will be more than happy to help you with any of your issues.
If this post was helpful to you then please spread the word by sharing it on your online social networks.
