How to Overcome Fear of Failure
Stories can be anything we want them to be, yet we invite fear into the stories we tell ourselves. How do we overcome the fear of failure?
When we can be heroes or villains, rich or poor, good or bad, happy or sad, why do we tell ourselves negative stories? Worse, why do we believe them, especially regarding our abilities?
Broken down into the letters that spell F.E.A.R., it reads “False Evidence Appearing Real.”
Why do we tend to latch onto fear when we could be focusing on success, wealth, or happiness?
Before publishing my first website, I spent time creating an attractive layout, and added posts, images, and all the things it needed. It was all there and ready to go live, yet I hesitated. I worried what people would think of my writing. I worried the site wasn’t optimized perfectly to be recognized by search engines. I worried that it wouldn’t make money.
When I finally gathered the courage to share the site with people, nothing bad happened. Instead, I receive compliments. That decision was the turning point in creating an online business and changed everything.
Stop Fear with Positive Self-Talk and Affirmations
Don’t Let Fear Be a Roadblock
Fear can be a major roadblock to your business success. If you take the time to sit down and list all the fears you face as an entrepreneur in today’s world, the list can get long, very quickly. These are some of the most common fears business leaders experience:
These fears are all valid, especially if you own a business that employs others. That means other people rely on your success for their livelihoods and security. However, when these fears prevent you from moving forward, they become largely self-fulfilling. Your mission is to break free from these fears to accomplish the success you deserve once and for all. This is how to start.
Know Your Own Value to Overcome Fear of Failure
If you don’t know it already, take a little time to discover that you are more than the sum of your parts. We all have strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and talents. Some people are fortunate enough to have outright gifts they choose to share with others.
It’s not a lack of experience or ability that is holding you back. It is, however, a lack of confidence. Until you understand the gifts you bring to the table, you’re going to struggle with self-confidence.
Reflect on accomplishments you made and the skills that made them possible. Celebrate every win, no matter how small. When you do this, you tell yourself that you are a hero and you can see your potential. This builds the self-confidence you’ll need to grow your business.
Maximize Your Growth
Some people choose to focus on eliminating the negatives but that isn’t always the best choice.
It takes far more time to eliminate negative tendencies or overcome knowledge deficiencies than it would to improve your skills and talents and hire someone to tackle the tasks where you are less skilled.
For instance, if you have a real gift for empathizing with people but aren’t as gifted at keeping your finances in order, hire a bookkeeper to work part-time handling those tasks while you develop your talents to grow your business.
When you invest in areas in which you excel, you and your business will grow. When you’re surrounded by a team that complements your weaknesses, you can focus on strategic planning and goals.
Enhance Your Skills and Confidence with Continuous Learning
Take a class to help you develop the skills you need to grow as a person and as a business leader and innovator. If you lack self-confidence, taking classes in the areas where you feel deficient will help you grow your confidence.
Knowledge, as they say, is power. Classes help you not only gain knowledge but also develop your talents and interests so you can accomplish impressive things with your business. They help to boost your confidence and enhance your overall business acumen.
When you attend workshops, seminars, and networking events, you stay current with industry trends and best practices. Not only do you broaden your knowledge, but you also connect with other like-minded professionals who can be a source of support and inspiration.
Overcome the Fear of Failure
Stop being your biggest obstacle. Often, the fear of failing is greater than the lack of confidence. You must risk failure to find amazing success.
Understand that mistakes and setbacks are part of every journey. Embrace failure and learn from each experience to move closer to your goals. Remember, the most successful people succeed because they fail more.
Make it a habit to step out of your comfort zone and take calculated risks. When you challenge yourself, you see real growth.
Surround yourself with supportive peers and mentors to provide encouragement and constructive feedback. Don’t let fear paralyze you. Keep moving forward. Open the door and allow your support group to be your cheerleaders.
Eliminate Negative Self-Talk
Silence the inner voices that feed your doubts and fears. If you can’t turn them off, drown them out with positive affirmations. Remind yourself of your past achievements and of those yet to come.
Self-talk is the non-stop flow of thoughts that goes through your mind. Most of it is about yourself. It can be good or bad, and it can either build up or tear down your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Positive self-talk is made up of thoughts about yourself that raise your self-confidence while negative self-talk lowers it. Negative self-talk can crush self-confidence.
When you’re trying to build up your self-confidence, you need to get control of your self-talk and stop the negative thoughts that are harming you. Then you need to replace them with positive thoughts.
Manage Your Self-Talk in 3 Steps
Notice Your Self-Talk
People talk to themselves constantly. Most don’t even realize it unless an anomaly stands out or they make the effort to pay attention. To determine if you self-talk, pay attention. You need to look for it to see it.
The first step in change is to be aware of a situation. As you become aware of your self-talk, determine if yours is positive or negative.
Negative talk can lead to self-confidence issues, and these may be the majority of your thoughts. Questions such as “What were you thinking, you idiot?” or “What’s the use?” or off-hand comments like “You can’t do that!” or “I’ll never succeed at anything,” are examples of negative talk.
Every time you denigrate or put yourself down matters. This also includes self-mocking humor.
Challenge Negative Thoughts
When you notice negative thoughts, challenge them. Tell yourself, “That’s not true.” No matter the thought or the name you call yourself, it’s not true.
Replace Negative Thoughts
After you’ve gotten good at challenging negative thoughts, start amending them to positive ones. “I can’t do that” becomes “I can do that if I try hard enough” and so forth. Do this every time you catch yourself having a negative thought about yourself. It may be difficult, especially in the beginning, but stick with it.
If you do this consistently, the number of negative thoughts in your self-talk will gradually diminish. This takes time, but you will eventually replace them with the positive thoughts you’re using instead. You’ll slowly reprogram yourself into thinking positively about yourself, which will boost your confidence.
Speaking Affirmations to Help Build Your Confidence and Overcome Fear of Failure
Affirmations are a way to boost self-confidence. You can build your confidence permanently using affirmations as well if you practice them regularly by adding them into your daily routine.
As you repeat positive statements about yourself, you reinforce a positive self-image. Over time this helps you to believe in your abilities.
Affirmations also counteract negative thoughts and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety because they promote a calm and focused mindset. This is why stopping to take a few deep, slow breaths in a stressful situation works to interrupt and calm a stressful situation.
Regularly repeating affirmations can keep you motivated and focused on goals. The mantras remind you of your strengths and potential necessary to move forward.
It’s more fun to spend time with people who exude positivity rather than negativity. This is because positive people encourage a more optimistic outlook on life and its challenges. Using affirmations to encourage positive thinking helps to shift your mindset.
Speaking affirmations will build emotional resilience as you build a habit of positive self-talk to encourage yourself to push through setbacks and difficulties.
Key Steps to Effective Affirmations that Overcome Fear of Failure
- Identify Your Goals and Needs: Determine the areas of your life you want to improve, or what negative thoughts you need to counteract. This helps you create specific and relevant affirmations.
- Create Positive Statements: Write affirmations in the present tense, as if they are already true. Make them positive, specific, and personal. For example, instead of saying “I will be confident,” say “I am confident.”
- Repeat Regularly: Consistency is key. Repeat your affirmations daily, preferably in the morning and before bed. Say them out loud while looking in the mirror to enhance their impact. Reciting affirmations out loud or quietly to yourself during stressful moments and before important events creates a calm, focused, and more positive perspective.
- Believe in Your Affirmations: As you repeat your affirmations, believe in the words you are saying. Imagine and visualize yourself living out the affirmation.
- Incorporate into Daily Routine: Integrate affirmations into your daily routine. Write them down, set reminders on your phone, or use sticky notes placed in visible areas.
- Combine with Action: While affirmations are powerful, they should be paired with action. Use them as motivation to take steps towards your goals.
- Stay Patient and Persistent: Affirmations may take time to influence your mindset. Stay patient and persistent, and you will gradually notice positive changes.
How to Speak Affirmations
Speaking affirmations is easy. Find a quiet place with a mirror. Look yourself in the eye and repeat any (or all) of these affirmations several times. Speaking them aloud is preferable, but if you can’t find a place where you can be alone and don’t want people to hear, repeat them silently.
Start with this list and add more affirmations as needed.
I can do this.
I am confident.
I am capable of great things.
I am growing and becoming a better version of myself.
I deserve everything I want from life.
I am competent, capable, and intelligent.
I am worthy of success and happiness.
I am capable of achieving my goals.
I handle challenges with grace and confidence.
I am growing and improving every day.
I attract positive opportunities into my life.
Conquering low self-confidence is all about changing the narrative in your mind. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ll open yourself up to greater success.
As you shift your mindset, build self-confidence, and embrace continuous learning and improvement, you can overcome fear of failure. Your goals are within reach when you break free from self-doubt and recognize your worth, focus on your strengths, and surround yourself with supportive peers. Remember, the path to success will always contain challenges, but with persistence and a positive outlook you can achieve remarkable goals and dreams.
Kim Nelson writes about business and gardening and has been a business owner for more than 20 years. Read more that she has written at Medium.com.
