Fear Of Failure

• Do you have a fear of failure?
• Is your childhood causing you to fail now?
• Learn to overcome a fear of failure!

One of the most common fears, and one that will stop you from adopting a more self disciplined lifestyle, is the fear of failure.

People who have a fear of failure often have difficulty in pushing themselves forward to achieve their goals. This usually occurs because of a mindset that tells them they will fail at whatever they do.

As a result this fear of failure can stop people from achieving things, even when they know they are perfectly capable of achieving it.

Do You Suffer From A Fear Of Failure?

If you think you may have a fear of failure that is holding you back, here are some questions you can use to determine if you have a fear of failure.

1 – Will You Work Harder To Keep From Failing Than You Will To Win?

People who suffer from a fear of failure are often motivated to work hard in order not to fail.

Failure is something that is constantly in the back of their mind, and as a result the actions they take are done to avoid a failure, rather than achieve a success.

Typically this involves “playing it safe”, not taking too many risks and staying inside their comfort zone.

On the other hand, people who do not suffer from a fear of failure are motivated to work hard in order to win or be the best.

Consequently their actions are much more adventurous and they are willing to take greater risks, and get outside their comfort zone.

2 – Do You Work Harder To Keep What You Currently Have? Or Work Harder To Get Something Better?

If you work harder to keep something you have, this may be because you have a subconscious fear of failure.

Since you are always concerned about loosing what you have, you are therefore motivated to keep what you currently have, rather than try to get something better. Again, this involves staying in your comfort zone, and not taking too many risks.

Living Below Your True Potential

As you can see from these two examples the fear of failure causes people to live mediocre lives, far below their true potential.

Fear of failure prevents people from ever starting to work towards a goal, because they feel the risk of failing is worse than the victory of success. Often these people have an attitude of “if it’s not broken don’t fix it”.

Where Does A Fear Of Failure Come From?

Fear of failure usually results from your childhood, the stories you hear from other people or films that you have seen which greatly exaggerate real life consequences.

All of these influences can instill a fear into the mind, causing you to become much more cautious and reserved than you normally would be.

Typically this effect is gradual, and develops over several years. However when a fear of failure does manifest itself, it tends to become a downward spiral, whereby the more fear you give into, the more fearful you become in life.

The extreme of this would involve someone who fears the outside world and does not leave their house. This is known as agoraphobia.

Dealing With A Fear Of Failure

A simple technique you can use to help overcome a fear of failure is to use something called a progressive collapse. This involves first thinking about all the bad things that would happen if you didn’t do something.

Then ask yourself what would happen after that, and after that, and after that. Keep going until you find the extreme of the worst thing that could possibly happen.

Often you will find that the worst thing you thought of wasn’t so bad after all, and most of the time it won’t even happen.

Another method you can use is to purposefully do things you are afraid of.

Usually when people have a fear of failure it becomes a habit, and consequently they give into fear without really thinking about it.

If you can recognise this habit in yourself, you will be able to identify times when you are purposefully avoiding doing something because of a fear you associate with it.

However by purposefully going ahead and doing the thing you fear, eventually you will break that habit.

The key point here is that the more you give into fear, the more fear will control and restrain your life. The more you resist fear, the less fear will control your life, and more liberated you will feel.