In our recent blog post, we discussed the many reasons as to why you may find yourself procrastinating. One of which, may be due to a fear of failure. This fear though, unlike more menial ones, can cause you to sit back and miss out on great opportunities to grow as a person, to advance professionally or to build upon your talents. And fearing failure shouldn’t hold you back from achieving great things in your life. After all, it is only once we step outside our comfort zone that we truly begin living. The key to beating this form of procrastination is figuring out how to fully recognize and overcome our doubts.
Take some time for self-reflection to get to the root of why you might be afraid to fail
- Assess your current situation. Which areas do you feel stuck in? Which areas would you really like to move forward in? Prioritize them. Are you not moving forward for fear of making a mistake? What could you possibly gain if you do try without holding back?
- Free your mind. Figure out why you’re missing goals due to a fear of failure. What kind of thoughts arise that then keep you from taking the necessary steps forward with your goals? See these thoughts for what they are- merely thoughts. They don’t have to be true and they don’t have to define you.
- Find out where that fear comes from. Where does your fear originate? Do they come from expectations that others place on you? Do they come from expectations that you place on yourself? It’s crucial to look at and understand your negative beliefs if you ever want to overcome them.
- Make a list of how your fear of failure has held you back in the past. Then come up with another list of all of the things that you could have possibly done if you hadn’t had that fear and moved forward in your actions. What opportunities or experiences or chances have you missed out on? Putting it all down will really help you gain some perspective on how much it can hold you back.
- Understand that mistakes can always be fixed if made. Don’t view a mistake as the end, but instead view it as an opportunity to learn and move forward.
- Face some of the things you’ve been putting off. Start facing that fear, even if you have to start small. Remember that even if you don’t fully succeed, every single mistake you make can still lead you one step closer to happiness and success, as long as you’re open to learning from it.
- Remember to give everything your all. Go big or go home, right? After all, nothing worth truly having ever comes easily. So don’t expect amazing results after only putting in a mediocre effort. You’ll likely be surprised at what you’re actually capable of.
- Follow your passion. When you find and follow your own passion, you’re much more likely to have none or burst through your fears.
It can often be hard to see any sort of benefit or opportunity in failure and criticism, but it’s there. So don’t be afraid to fail, or too hard on yourself should you do. Instead, when it happens (and it will because it happens to all of us) focus on putting your energy into figuring out why you weren’t as successful as you’d hoped to be. Once you understand this, you can change your actions to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
To summarize, to advance in life you must first learn to accept that the possibility of failure will always be there. No one is perfect. Procrastinating may seem to work for a while, but as long as the fears remain they will continue to take action on you and will ultimately only lead to deeper issues down the road. Remember that you only become a failure by failing to try. There is no real reason to worry and to be afraid to fail!
“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”- Eva Young
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Originally published at www.careeba.com