One thing that everyone is bound to feel at least once in their life is the feeling of failing at something. This then gives us the fear of failure and the fear of failure is something that can have varying impacts on an individual. Here are three impacts I can think of:
- It can prevent you from taking action. Probably the most common impact. The thought of failure can stop you from putting yourself in that situation. For example, you may not apply for other jobs because you are worried about failing the interview and so you just don't take that leap. However the best way to combat this is just to ask yourself "so what?" So What if I fail? what will happen? Majority of the time the result of you failing will not have any significant consequences so there is no reason to let it affect you.
- It can make you play it safe. Similar to the first impact you are so worried about failure that you decide not to take risks and just to stick to what you're doing or decide to take the safer option as the perceived risk of failure is less. However you should ask yourself again, what happens if I fail with either option? More often than not, the result will be the same with both so why not opt for the "riskier" option if the reward is greater?
- It can make you try even harder to succeed. Sometimes you are so worried about failing that you work as hard as you can top ensure you don't fail. This can be seen as a positive but you also want to make sure you don't over index on it or you will end up burning out.
It all comes back to mindset and how you think about failure. Your mindset can determine which one of the above that you fall in to.
One thing is for sure, the more you fail the more you will succeed because you cannot succeed without getting over the fear of failure. Failure is inevitable but so is success when you can accept that.
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Thanks for reading,
Gav
