Sign-Up For The NeuroGym Newsletter And Join The Innercise Revolution!
We value your privacy and would never spam you.
Fear of failure is a harsh reality for many people—does that sound like you?
It’s quite normal to be fearful about failing. It’s not a bad thing; instead, it shows you hold yourself to a higher standard. But you can allow this to keep you from living life to the fullest. You have to take action if you want to do more and be more.
Before you can address your fear, you have to know where it comes from.
It might be that you don’t want to be embarrassed or you are trying to prevent negative consequences. In actuality though, your fears come from the knowledge that you cannot control outcomes—it is a fear of the unknown.
Your personality has a lot to do with whether you take risks or prefer to play it safe. It comes down to two characteristics of your personality.
The first is a low achievement orientation, which means that you would rather stick to known ideas even if it results in achieving less. The second trait is high test anxiety that results in elevated stress levels during trying situations.
Together, these two characteristics feed your fear of failure.
Fear has an impact on what you get done and how you feel about your behavior. It could be that you want to control what is happening, so you do excessive planning that verges on perfectionism. In effect, you are procrastinating which doesn’t get you closer to your goals.
When this happens, it affects your mental health. Your well-being begins to suffer, and your dreams may feel even further away than they were initially.
You don’t need to become fearless to get where you want in life; rather, you need to increase your courage so that you can take on whatever challenges you may face.
Do you identify with these causes and effects of fear, or can you pinpoint a different reason for your situation?
We can help you understand it better in our on-demand training on Winning the Game of Fear.
Mindfulness is all about paying attention to what is happening right now without getting distracted by other things. When you are mindful, you don’t dwell on negative thoughts which can help you to overcome your fears.
You don’t know what will happen tomorrow, so it doesn’t help to stress about it. You should still plan your activities if you want to achieve your goals, but it helps to focus on the present instead of being anxious about what might happen. After all, it could go according to your wishes anyway.
Being mindful includes being thankful for what you have at this moment. Everything might not be exactly as you wanted, but you should still be grateful for the people, assets, and relationships in your life.
You are a talented individual with loads of potential, so stop being so hard on yourself!
Starting today, be thankful for all the small things and what you got done in the last 24 hours. Begin a gratitude journal and write down at least three things that went according to plan today.
The more you do this, the more you see your progress. Soon, you will find that your worries and fears are unnecessary.
When you take decisive actions such as journaling, meditating, or being mindful, you start to take back control of your life. There are always new techniques to do this, so join us as we explore the ways you can diminish your fears.
What are you most afraid of?
We are pretty sure that you have a clear picture of fearful scenarios. You could probably conjure it up with the mention of a single word.
How about success? Do you have an image of that situation?
Probably not because your brain prefers to focus on the negative instead of the positive.
Your brain is full of neural networks that fire messages across your brain. This prompts you to think or act in certain ways. The more you use these pathways, the more you start to believe that this message is the truth.
You are the user of your brain, so you can change these thoughts and start building new pathways—those linked to success.
Working on your mental image of success can help you to reduce fear. You should be using visualization daily and especially when negative thoughts strike.
It’s an easy process that changes your brain’s messages so that you focus more on success. Fear automatically takes the back seat!
The previous video shows a simple Innercise™ to hack your brain. Sign up for our free training and learn even more tricks to build your courage.
Acknowledging that you may fail can help you to accept it as a possibility. It doesn’t mean that you expect to fail; it just means that you know there is a chance of it happening if you don’t take decisive action.
Humility is the acceptance of your own abilities and shortcomings. Being aware of what you want and the obstacles that may present themselves allows you to create a mitigating plan. Do this with humility and accept that everything might not go how you want it—even when you do try to mitigate risks.
Being humble isn’t easy because we don’t like admitting to our mistakes and shortcomings. Rather than focusing on these negatives, concentrate on telling yourself that it is okay.
This is similar to appealing to a higher power: “If I fail, deliver me.”
Create your own mantras for fears and failure so that you know it is okay:
Think for a few moments about one of your greatest desires where fear has the upper hand. Write down what you are afraid of, and then jot down all the positives that will occur when this desire becomes reality.
Reflect on your list of positives daily. You could even place it somewhere visible because the more you are exposed to this message, the stronger your mind’s connection becomes to it.
Write your desire in big letters on the same piece of paper. You want to reinforce it as much as possible so that your desire becomes the focus and fear dissipates into the background.
Fear is a mental concept. You have the power to change your brain, so you also have the power to alter your perception of fear. Learn how to do this with our Winning the Game of Fear training available to you right now.
In an ideal world, failure would never exist, but if that was the case, then you would never be able to challenge yourself. Failure has a purpose, so there is no need to stop failing entirely.
Nothing builds courage as much and as quickly as failure does. When you fail, you have to pick yourself back up, dust off your own perception of humiliation, and move on from the situation.
Failing will happen, and that’s okay. What’s more important is how you respond which includes moving on.
You don’t need to dwell on your failures or beat yourself up about them. Think about what happened, identify what went wrong, and find the lessons in the situation. Spending more time on your failures won’t get you anywhere.
Fear and courage are on opposite sides of the spectrum. You have to tip the balance toward courage so that fear doesn’t get the upper hand.
Even if you do fail, you will do so courageously and with the knowledge that you can learn from it—that is powerful! It means you aren’t scared of failing; instead, you are open to all possibilities and know that every situation brings some kind of value to your life.
With this perspective on possibilities of both success and failure, you can take the next steps in your life. Think about what you want from life, set yourself goals, and take action daily toward achieving them.
If fear does come into the picture, then visualize yourself succeeding. Review the benefits of attaining your dreams, work on your courage, and remember that you are the person in control of your destiny.
Fear is a game that takes place in your mind, but you are Player One and dictate the direction of the game. Where do you want it to go next? Do you want to play into the fear, or do you want to run in the opposite direction toward courage?
We prefer success and believe that you do, too. Continue playing the game of life with us by learning how to train your brain so that it decreases the effects of fear. In our on-demand virtual training, we reveal the secrets of the mind and how to use it to manifest the desires of your heart.
