Whenever we think of doing something that we have never done before, thoughts of failure creep into the picture. It’s the natural reaction to getting out of our comfort zones. But we should not have a fear of failure, particularly when it paralyzes us into inaction. This is what occurs when we over-think the issue at hand and lose sight of the goal.
Like most things in life, while learning a process you will make some mistakes and there will be some failures on some level.
But rather than fear them, look forward to them and get those mistakes behind you, as these are teaching moments that make you more proficient at what you do.
I can remember wanting to roller skate like the larger kids who seemed so graceful and acrobatic. My parents got me a pair of skates and I had no fear of failure because I wanted to learn this skill so badly.
The truth is I spend more time on my back pockets early on, than I did on the wheels, but undeterred, I learned how to reduce that down time. Eventually I was a part of a skating club who gathered at the roller rink every Saturday and we were all pretty good.
Relate this to your online business and have no fear of failure. That product that you are creating or that new service that you want to offer should drive you to get it out there as soon as reasonably possible. If you have a misstep, adjust, make the correction and be better for it.
The biggest mistake we can make is allowing ourselves to remain fearful of failure, thereby doing nothing to advance our business positions. Sure, we can stay in our comfort zones but look where that has gotten us thus far. Probably not very far down the road to success and freedom.
How to Overcome the Fear
To overcome the fear we have to know what it is that we are hopeful of avoiding in the first place. Normally fear relates to some unknown.
What will people think if I fail?
Will they ever forgive me?
Will I be looked upon as a loser?
A multitude of questions may come to mind related to what you fear but to overcome that fear, you must do two things.
- Find out what the cost of failure is.
- Determine if it is a price you are willing to pay.
As an example, if you wanted to create an ebook but feared it may bomb bringing you no sales, what is the true cost of the failure? You’ve lost your time and effort during the creation process and maybe a few bucks for having a cover designed. But would this be more than you are willing to pay?
Now add in the cost of a negative reaction from your client base and the cost is suddenly higher. Considering this, you will put forth an even greater effort to make the product really valuable.
Given this scenario, it’s not the end of the world. You will have gained some knowledge from the experience and will make an even better product next time.
Overcome your fear of failure, learn from the experience and become better at what you do.
Have you a story to share that illustrates how you overcame a fear of failure?
Keep Blogging!
12 Responses to Have No fear of Failure
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" @sbc111 That's quite a thrill ride. Great that you have that skill. " — JimiJones
I’m not afraid of failure as long as I gave it may all. What I am not so fond of is losing everything due to a hosting server issue. GoDaddy and WordPress have failed me.
But, I will be back by golly one of these days!
Gee Ms. Freeman.
Really sorry to hear that and hope you are back up and running as normal very soon. I’m sure this will be an interesting blog post in the aftermath of the situation. I just visited your site and…
I feel bad that this has happened.
I’m not afraid of failure as long as I gave it may all. What I am not so fond of is losing everything due to a hosting server issue. GoDaddy and WordPress have failed me.
But, I will be back by golly one of these days!
Gee Ms. Freeman.
Really sorry to hear that and hope you are back up and running as normal very soon. I’m sure this will be an interesting blog post in the aftermath of the situation. I just visited your site and…
I feel bad that this has happened.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jimi Jones, John Lufadeju. John Lufadeju said: RT @JimiJones: Have No Fear Of Failure http://bit.ly/ac3DyW [...]
My thing has always been…
“if he/she can do it, then i could do it too”
And that’s not to say fear doesn’t creep in sometimes.
It helps when you’re surrounded by the right people for encouragement and motivation.
.-= John Lufadeju´s last blog ..Re: Social Media Strategies =-.
I agree, John.
The right people drive you to do better without having to say a word. When you see others being successful, you want a piece of that as well, so you step up your game and go for it.
.-= Jimi Jones´s last blog ..Have No fear of Failure =-.
My thing has always been…
“if he/she can do it, then i could do it too”
And that’s not to say fear doesn’t creep in sometimes.
It helps when you’re surrounded by the right people for encouragement and motivation.
.-= John Lufadeju´s last blog ..Re: Social Media Strategies =-.
I agree, John.
The right people drive you to do better without having to say a word. When you see others being successful, you want a piece of that as well, so you step up your game and go for it.
.-= Jimi Jones´s last blog ..Have No fear of Failure =-.
I'm currently writing my very first ebook right now to start my mailing list off with. I'm not scared about it just very anxious to find out how it's going to work and what results it's going to bring to everything.
No details yet unless you check out my blog.
Hey Eric, how goes?
I know what you mean on that project. Good luck with the ebook BTW,
I have a good size project I'm working on as well and can hardly wait to get it done.
Thanks!
Yeah working on something big takes a lot of time and effort but is fun and worthwhile in the end.