How to Overcome The Fear of Failure

Many people let the fear of failure stop them. And it does. It stops them from going for new goals. It also keeps them from taking advantage of new opportunities and living life fullly. Fears usually have beliefs and feelings that need to be addressed. To overcome fear, it is important to be completely aware of the thoughts and feelings driving it. Only then, will freedom be realized.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. When I mentioned the fear of failure, how do you feel? Take a moment to think of the fear of failure. Then, get in touch with your overall feeling about it.

2. As you get in touch with your overall feeling about the fear of failure, notice where this feeling resides in your body. Keep feeling it fully and breathing deeply into it. Notice how it changes and dissolves, causing you to feel better.

3. Repeat steps one and two. Keep getting in touch with how you feel about the fear of failure. As you repeat steps one and two, you'll move into a place of greater acceptance around the fear of failure. It will have less power over you.

4. You can try this step before or after you've tried steps one through three. Just for today, give yourself permission to fail. Do a task that you know you're not good at. If you start feeling uncomfortable as you do it, use a similar process to the one I discussed in step one through three. Feel the discomfort fully as you breathe into it. If there's a part of you that does not want to feel the discomfort, notice that as resistance. Let yourself feel that resistance fully in your body as well and breathe deeply into it. Notice how that resistance ends up dissolving as well. Keep giving yourself permission to fail.

5. Understand that ultimately, behind all failures and mistakes, there are valuable lessons to be learned. Find these lessons. After you have found them, take a moment to be grateful for them.

6. Ask yourself what is the very worse that could happen if you failed? Then, create a plan for yourself, so that when the worse case scenario actually materializes, you'll be completely prepared to deal with it.
   Also, start thinking of ways you can keep the very worse from happening. See if you can implement any part of this plan.
   Next, focus on what's the best that could happen if you succeed. Start creating a plan for yourself to make that happen. Now, see if you can implement any part of this plan.

7. Keep confronting fear of failure. Keep trying new things. Keep making mistakes. And keep being thankful for all the lessons you learn. After a while, you may find yourself becoming very happy. Before you know it, fear of failure will be a thing of the past.