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Overcoming the fear of failure

By James Short
13 April 2021 | 6 minute read
James Short reb

Whether you are already a full-fledged business owner or just planning on starting your own company, there is one thing that has always hindered most of us from moving forward. The fear of failure.

Business owners who are already running their own business and planning on expanding might not go ahead with their plans when facing the possibility of failure. Individuals who are planning on opening their own business might become hesitant when they include failure into the equation. The big obstacle in these scenarios is not the possibility of failing itself but the fear of it. The fear that your ideas may not be as brilliant as you initially thought. The fear that you might not have what it takes to run a business or run a bigger operation. Yes, failing is a possibility, but so is succeeding. You’ll never know unless you overcome the fear and just go for it.

This is the age of social media. With just a simple click or tap, we get a glimpse of other people’s success and achievements. Being exposed to this on a daily basis makes failure seem so much worse than it really is. The fact is, it’s not. Failing is as normal as having bad weather. Does your life stop when the weather is bad? Do you refuse to go out because of the possibility of bad weather? I think not. Don’t be paralysed by the fear of failure. Don’t get hung up on the what-ifs. Start succeeding by overcoming the fear of failure.

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Understand that failure is healthy

To be more specific, a certain amount of failure is healthy. Change your mindset from “failure is the end of the road to success” to “failure is part of the process”. The fact that you are failing just means that you are way out of your comfort zone, which in turn means that you are on your way to success. If you are not failing, it just means that your goals are too small and are still within your comfort zone. Going for small goals is awesome at building confidence, but eventually, you have to go for the big ones.

Create a list

Just like when you’re creating a list of goals to fully visualise them, it would also be beneficial to create a list of the things that you fear. Create a list of the worst-case scenarios, what you could do to prevent it, and what you will do to repair it. For each fear, write down all of the things that you could benefit from it. You will find out that the positives will almost always outweigh the negatives. This list will help you push yourself to just go for it and, at the same time, have a plan just in case things go sideways.

Everyone’s experiences are different

Just because someone failed at something does not mean that you will also fail in trying to achieve the same thing. Everyone’s experience will be different. Change your mindset. Instead of focusing on the failures, focus on the successes. Instead of “That person failed in that line of business, I might also fail”, go with “That person succeeded in that line of business, so should I”.

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