How to overcome fears
Fear is something we all experience when setting out on any new undertaking. Failure is one of the most common and most damaging fears that many people struggle with. However failure is often the first step toward success for example highly successful people such as Harry porter, Richard Branson are very vocal about how often they have failed and has shaped their success. Merely, avoiding the feeling of fear is not likely, however you can take a close look at your fear of failure and then work it to shape your future success.
It is almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. People who do so probably live so cautiously that they go nowhere. It means that they are not really living at all. The wonderful thing about failure is that it is entirely up to decide how to look at it.
We can choose to see failure as the end of world or as proof of just how inadequate we are. We can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we are meant to learn. These lessons are very important as they are how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures stop us only if we want it.
In work and life there are two kinds of failure- actions and inactions. You can fail by starting a company that goes out of business or by not starting a company at all. Most people predict that it is the actions they will regret more. We cringe at the anguish of declaring bankruptcy.But we are dead wrong. When people reflect on their biggest rewards, they wish they could redo the inactions, not the actions. In the long run people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did which is why the most popular regrets include not going to college, not grasping profitable business opportunities , and not spending enough time with family and friends. Ultimately what we regret is not failure, but the failure to act. Knowing that is what propels people to become original. Leonardo Da Vinci wrote repeatedly in his notebook ,'Tell me if anything was ever done'. He might have been afraid to fail, but he was more afraid that he would fail to accomplish anything of significance. That propelled him to keep painting, inventing and designing to become the ultimate Renaissance Man.
Originals learn to see failure not as a sign that their ideas are doomed, but as a necessary step towards success. Everyone hates to fail, but for some people, failing presents such a significant psychological threat their motivation to avoid failure exceeds their motivation to succeed. This fear of failure causes them to unconsciously sabotage their chances of success, in a variety of ways. Failing can elicit feelings such as disappointment, anger, frustration, sadness, regret and confusion that while unpleasant are usually not sufficient to trigger a full blown fear of failure. Indeed the term is somewhat of a misnomer because it is not failure per se that underlies the behavior of people who have it.
Ways to overcome Fear-
It is important to realize that in everything we do, there is always a chance that we will fail. Facing that chance and embracing it, is not only courageous- it also gives us a fuller more rewarding life.
1. Analyze all potential outcomes- Many people experience fear of failure because fear the unknown. Remove that fear by considering all of the potential outcomes of your decision.
2. Never say Never - We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming-well that is like saying you can never change your fate by Amy Tan. At the end of the day we are our best motivators. Failure is a part of life , it is failure that makes us stronger and more persistent to achieve our goal.
3. Patience and Faith are our best friends - No one can determine the final destination of our life journey. Therefore, the next best thing to do is to keep our cool and have faith in ourselves.Whenever I feel I am detouring from my destiny, I try to remind myself my journey is my path.It is a journey full of peaks and valleys, sunshine and rain. This faith allows me to explore unchartered territory with confidence. Even we fail, we do not lose it all -we can learn valuable lessons, and build the foundation for our next chapter. Keeping a can do attitude helps us to never give up on ourselves. It allows us to recharge, reinvest and reinvent ourselves by melting down our fear.
4. Learn to think more positively- Positive thinking is an incredibly powerful way to build self-confidence and neutralize self -sabotage.
5. Look at the worst case scenario- It may be disastrous in some cases and may be perfectly rational to fear failure. In other cases, however, this worst case may actually not be that bad, and recognizing this can help.
6. Contingency Plan- If you are afraid of falling at something, having a plan B in place that can help you feel more confident about moving forward.
Trial and error are usually the prime means of solving life's problems. Yet many people are afraid to undertake the trial because they are too afraid of experiencing the error. They make the mistake of believing that all error is wrong and harmful, when most of it is both helpful and necessary. Error provides the feedback that points the way to success. Only error pushes people to put together a new and better trial , leading through yet more errors and trials until they can ultimately find a viable and creative solution. To meet with an error is not to fail, but to take one step on the path to final success. No errors means no successes either.