Often, the fear of failure keeps us from even attempting something in the first place. We usually find more reasons why something might not work out than reasons that support it. Asking the friendly colleague out on a date? No, she’s probably already taken. Signing up for a marathon? How embarrassing would it be if I didn’t make it to the finish line? Finally, starting your own business? Too many things could go wrong, I’d better stay in my old job. But does this attitude truly make us happy?
If we want to achieve something, we need to take action and step out of our comfort zone. This often seems quite risky, as there’s always the possibility of failing. But what if the opposite happens and everything goes well?
The fact is: if you don’t take the first step, you’ll never get what you desire.
To prevent you from giving up immediately and surrendering to your fear, we want to offer you these five tips to help you overcome the fear of failure.
01. Realize That Everyone Fails At Some Point
Failure is a part of life. There is no person who gets everything right because nobody is perfect. Even the most successful people have a long journey behind them, undoubtedly filled with many stumbling blocks and obstacles.
No one is immune to the fear of failure. What matters is the determination to persevere: Thomas Edison needed almost 10,000 attempts before he finally invented the light bulb. This shows you that it’s worth never giving up, but rather starting over again and again, even if success doesn’t come immediately.
Winston Churchill once expressed the ability of successful people to deal with failure :
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
02. Learn From Mistakes
This kind of people can easily dismiss negative thoughts and are more motivated to try again. Become aware that it’s not actually a big deal if you don’t succeed. After all, who determines what constitutes failure?
Try shifting your perspective – this can help reduce the fear of failure. If you see mistakes as stages in your individual learning process, you have nothing to lose and will potentially become richer in experience.
You can learn from mistakes to do things differently next time. The key is not to get discouraged.
03. Focus on Your Goal
Think about what you could accomplish if the fear of failure didn’t exist. Achieving your goals would be so much easier! You would hardly waste any time thinking about all the things that could go wrong and just take action.
Use all your energy to put your plan into action instead of focusing on why you might fail. A good technique that can take you to your next goal is visualization. Before you start, you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve.
The following questions can help you: What exactly is my goal? What’s my first step? How will I deal with obstacles that I encounter along the way? How will it feel when I have reached my goal?
04. Look Behind the Fear
Where does it come from, the fear of failure? What would be the worst that could happen? Think to the end: what would happen if you actually failed? Would that really be the end of the world or could you live with it?
Maybe a good plan B can offer you more courage and security. Become aware of what exactly is hiding behind your fear. It is often not the fear of failure that paralyzes us, but the fear of being rejected and judged by other people.
Boost your confidence. That way you don’t lose confidence in yourself along the way.
05. Boost Your Self-Confidence
Instead of thinking you can’t do something, believe in yourself. Question your beliefs and rephrase those that keep you from doing positive mantras. So an “I will fail” becomes an “I can do it”.
Special mindfulness exercises can help you to increase your self-confidence, for example, meditations in which you recite positive affirmations in your mind. Or you ask those around you to name your greatest strengths. You will be amazed at what others see in you.
If we don’t give ourselves permission to make mistakes, the fear of making them will hurt us far more than the eventual failure.
We can be brave and sometimes fail – the worst thing would be not to try something at all! No matter how it turns out, in the end, we only regret the things we didn’t do.
06. Do Something Good for Yourself
What are your living conditions right now? How stressful is your everyday life? And can you do something good for yourself and your body? “The more vulnerable, i.e. more prone to injury, the body is, the more sensitively one reacts to fear stimuli,” explains Sven Püffel.
Therefore, pay particular attention to good nutrition, enough sleep, and a healthy work-life balance.
07. Do Sports
Exercising not only strengthens your body and distracts you from the things that might scare you. Sports and exercise also have depression and anxiety-reducing effects. Several studies show this, according to Sven Püffel: “Exercise is extremely helpful, especially as a short-term measure.” So go out, go for a walk or a hike, go running, or just do the sport that you enjoy.
