Overcoming Your Fear Of Failure
How many of you remember the first time you became aware of your fear of Failure? What defining moment in your life persuaded you to stop saying, “I know I can”? When did you stop believing that you “could” do something when you put your mind to it? According to what I heard from child psychologist, babies are only afraid of “two” things. The first is a “fear of falling.” The second is a “fear of loud noises.”
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we also began to fear “Rejection” and “Failure.” So, did somebody go around from one classroom to the next teaching us to fear Failure? What happened? We began to believe the “true lie” that nobody loves a failure. Guess what? God does.
I can recall hearing Mr. Les Brown, The Motivator, share something during one of his speeches that has always stuck with me. He said something to the effect that if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would succeed no matter what you chose to do, what would you do? I immediately wrote down a laundry list of things. One was becoming a published, award-winning author. The other was to create and publish my own collection of fine art photographic images that changed the way the world saw people whose skin was “darker than a brown paper bag.”
By the grace of God, I will accomplished both in my lifetime. Did I ever fail and fall flat on my face? Most definitely. Did it hurt. Most definitely. But Failure didn’t kill me. Failure taught me what didn’t work so I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Remember,
“the sun should never set on the same person twice.”
How many of you have ever eaten a Hershey Chocolate Bar? Would it surprise you to know that Milton S. Hershey failed and filed bankruptcy at least seven times before he invented the Hershey Bar? There are many other examples of everyday, ordinary people who failed their way to success. But because I promised my wife, KWiz, that I’d take it easy, I’ll stop with just one illustration that there’s life after a failure. As you know, I’ve failed to write blogs worth reading since birthing this site January 1, 2007. Only your comments will let me know if I’ve posted anything worth reading and sharing.
What’s stopping you from becoming one of those people who beats the odds with God’s help? Ask yourself these questions:
- What’s the worst thing that could happen to me if I try and fail to accomplish my goal?
- Can I live with the consequences of this “temporary” setback should I step outside the comfort zone of what gives me a false sense of security?
If the answer to question number 2 is, yes, then go for it. Give your big dream everything you’ve got. You just might wake up one day to discover that you’ve overcome your fear of Failure. As evidenced by “My Bio” page, I’ve risen out of the ashes of some heart-breaking defeats and stepped out of a darkness so thick that it made me sick. God willing, you will share your stories about the time God traded your ashes for something beautiful. I learned that a failure is never final until you decide to stop. “Keep risin’ after every fall” is simply my way of saying, “Don’t Give Up.”
It has taken me at least 10 years to finish writing the first two books in a 3 part series of books. When Least Expected™, “Inspiration To Brighten Dark Days And Lonely Nights When All Seems Lost” is the title of the first book. Generation X’ed, Talent Alone Is Not Enough™ is the title of the second book. Over the years, I’ve shared the truth with college students with undeclared majors that I had to fail my way to success before discovering that Failure was not something to fear. For me, it was always better to find out early in life what I loved to do rather than to discover late in life what could have been. Do you know what you love to do?
After my great fall, I discovered my love of writing. Writing became therapeutic for me. Real men didn’t keep diaries and still don’t. We refer to them as “journals.” I wrote many of the poetic essays you’ve seen posted in previous months. Reading books written by successful people reassured me that failure was nothing to fear, nor was it an event to feel ashamed about. Failure was simply a necessary part of the learning process that all successful people endure. The choice to “do something” today that will enable you to overcome your fear of Failure is yours alone to make. What choice are you going to make?
I would like to close with a quote from Robert Schuller’s book, Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do, that says,
“Better
to
do something
imperfectly
than
to
do nothing
flawlessly.”
Matters not how old you are today. It’s always too early to quit and never too late to begin. So why not start today and take the first step towards making your big dream come true? Nobody enjoys singing the “woulda, coulda, shoulda blues.” To win, you must begin. If not now, when?
©Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
Popularity: 7% [?]
6 comments March 16th, 2007
