Many of us are deathly afraid of failure – to the point where we will even avoid trying things in the first place in order avoid that eventuality.
What’s more, a fear of failure can also cause us to perform less well when we actuallydo attempt something. It makes us hold things back and it makes us ‘half commit’.
When you’re speaking on stage for instance, nerves come from the thought that you might fail by choking or forgetting your lines. This in turn causes you to stutter and that in turn ironically is what might cause you to fail in the first place.
Another example might be launching a new business. Those who are afraid of failure will often launch eh business half heartedly and not fully commit. Maybe they don’t tell people, or maybe they don’t quit their old job.
As Jackie Chan said – it’s not doing a stunt or not doing a stunt that leads to injury. It’s half doing a stunt.
Hypothesis Testing
This is why there can often be great value in failing on purpose to get it out of the way.
If you’re someone who is afraid of choking while public speaking for instance, then perhaps the best thing you can do is to go up on stage and then purposefully not say anything. It will be scary and it will be unpleasant but when you do it you realize that the outcome isn’t that bad. We’re all afraid of public speaking and so we tend to be rather sympathetic when other people struggle.
Likewise, if you’re scared that something will hurt if it goes wrong, sometimes the best thing to do is to try letting it go wrong. If you’re afraid of being alone, sometimes spending some time alone is the best thing you can do.
In cognitive behavioral therapy this is called ‘hypothesis testing’ and it is often used to overcome phobias and anxieties. The general principals apply in many areas of life though. When we’re afraid of something, it’s often failing at that thing that we’re afraid of.
So if you can practice failure or give it a go, you will soon see that the worst case scenario isn’t all that bad. And with it ‘out the way’, you will be able to go on to succeed and to thrive.
Face your fears and no failure will ever seem quite so bad again!
Eva Gregory is a Law of Attraction expert, speaker, author and mentor to spiritual entrepreneurs – coaches, healers and holistic practitioners. Her passion is helping spiritual entrepreneurs go from chaos to clarity, and from clarity to cash flow by learning how to tap into their own inner guidance and merge it with proven practical business strategies to create enlightened businesses of purpose, passion and prosperity. She is author of “The Feel Good Guide to Prosperity” and “Life Lessons For Mastering the Law of Attraction” co-authored with Jack Canfield. Get your FREE REPORT, “Massive Success For Spiritual Entrepreneurs” here. Learn more about how Eva can help you at www.EvaGregory.com
