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Don’t Let the Fear of Failure Limit Your Potential
I hear people all the time complain about their employment situation over and over. I know a few people who have had the same job since I’ve known them and even though they’ve stayed at the same place for as many as 30 years, every time I see them they tell me how much they hate their job. They complain about how their boss doesn’t treat them right and about how tedious it is.
I don’t get it!
Why would anyone stay in a situation that brings them nothing but unhappiness? I’ve even heard these same people tell me about how they are always looking but just can’t find a job “as good as” the job they currently have.
Huh? Are they kidding?
Being an entrepreneur I typically recommend starting their own business. I believe that if you find something you’re extremely passionate about, that you’d love to do every day, and you put some thought into how to turn that passion into a business, you can come up with something that could generate an excellent living.
Most importantly you can improve your quality of life immensely! All the money in the world isn’t worth anything if your quality of life sucks.
I am not saying that starting a business is always the answer, in fact, I don’t believe the majority of the people in this world are cut out to be business owners. The problem is there are still many people who are, and many of these people never give it a shot.
It wouldn’t matter if they had a fool proof business plan, all the financial backing in the world, and Donald Trump whispering in their ear guiding them the whole way. They’ll still stay in that crappy job and complain and moan about it every day like they had for the previous 30 some years.
Why the heck would someone subject themselves to that? Well the answer is very easy.
They are afraid to fail!
Personally I think the fear of failure is completely irrational.
I’m extremely competitive and hate losing more than most people I know, but I could NEVER imagine spending my last dying seconds reviewing my life and realizing that I never put myself in a postion to succeed because I was afraid to fail.
I am not only talking about monetary success, or just business ownership. I am talking about anything.
There are people who never get married because they are too afraid of failing and getting divorced. There are others who never try to get an education because they are afraid they won’t pass and will ultimately fail. And then there are the others who spend every single day hating their job but never look for another one because they are afraid the new job won’t work out.
I once heard an acronym for fear which couldn’t be more accurate. That acronym is …
False Evidence Appearing Real
The next time you find yourself paralyzed by fear or not taking action because you’re afraid it won’t work out.
Stop for a second …
Imagine the worst possible result that might occur if you did fail …
And ask yourself if you could live with it if that result happened.
If the answer is yes (and in almost every case it will be), GO FOR IT!
I promise you the price you’ll pay for failing will be far less than the price you’ll pay for regretting you never took a chance to improve your life.
The most successful people on earth have failed over and over until they finally succeed, and then people point to them and say how “lucky” they are. They aren’t lucky and in some cases they aren’t any smarter than the average person. They were just determined to continue on and on until they made it … and they did!
It’s funny how small the failures look once you’ve finally succeeded.
If you’ve got something you’ve wanted to do, but haven’t moved forward with it because you are afraid it won’t work out, I hope this article helps give you the push needed. If it does and your plan doesn’t work out, you’ll find out it isn’t that bad and I am quite sure it’ll be much easier to move on to the next plan!
Kristina Evey
Very good post, Pete! There are so many limits that we put upon ourselves that it is almost scary to think about what we are missing by letting fear get in our way. I have found that when I just push through it and do the task or strive for the goal, 9 times out of 10, it was so much easier than I thought and the sense of accomplishment is way beyond gratifying. We should learn from our failures, and, like you said, Just GO FOR IT!
Dirnov
Greatings, Ugh, I liked! So clear and positively.
Dirnov