- The Fear of Failure
- Remember what is was like when you first learned to ride a bike?. Our society has placed so much emphasis on success that failure has become a dirty and much avoided word.
- Failure may be a bitter pill to swallow but everyone must fail at one time in their lives. However, it is not the fact that you have failed that is important but the manner in which you have accepted and risen from it.
- A person can either allow himself to be thwarted by failure, or they can use
- failure to build up their determination to climb more mountains. What is important is that the experience of failing was not without benefit, because the person who failed learned something from the experience.
- Those who fear failure should recognise the fact that most successful people have failed one or more times in their lives. What made the difference is what they learned from the failure and how they used failure to take a step towards success. The real failures are those who use failure or the fear of failure not to try again.
The fear of failure creates anxiety and often magnifies the problem The more a person thinks about the possibility of failing, the more they will rehearse innumerable possible scenarios. Unknowingly, the fear of failure and the unknown will make the situation appear worse than it actually is.
A person who fears failure is often very competitive. They tend to treat every person and situation as a threat. This can takes the joy out of doing something that, on the surface, should have been simple and pressure free. This result is that they are constantly nervous, anxious and feel pressured to excel at whatever they do.
- Fear of failure is normal. How you deal with it can make all the difference.
- - When confronted with the fear of failure take inspiration from the bamboo
- tree which bends when confronted with a strong wind, to keep itself from
- breaking, only to rise again when the wind has abated.
- - Accept that you are not perfect ... nobody is; everyone occasionally errs
- and fails. When you do fail, get yourself up, dust yourself off and determine
- to fight another day.
- - Always have a support group to lean on when the going gets rough. Many
- successful people rely on their families and friends to help then get thought
- the low points in their lives. Others focus on their dreams of eventual
- success.
- - Do not allow bitterness to build up inside you, as this will lead to
- depression and despair. Seek support and council whenever the
- need arises.
- - Remember, "failure is success turned inside out". Eventually you will wear
- success and wear it well.
