There is one big thing that stops many of us going for what we want. We might blame money, lack of support, lack of knowledge, time, family… but we’d be lying, to ourselves. One big reason is the fear of failure – behind all the excuses and reasons, isn’t it just easier not to do it, than to put yourself in front of the big fat possibility that we might get rejected?
So you might be forgiven for thinking that the answer to the question ‘how do I avoid failure?’ is simply, don’t do that thing that you would like to do. It’s certainly an easy option isn’t it? Or is it?
Perhaps not, if you then start mentally beating yourself up. That not so little (quite loud and irritating actually) voice in your head going round and round in circles; what if you had done it? What would have happened? Playing out a scene of success and then failure, feeling frustrated, angry at yourself, guilty, embarrassed? Calling yourself stupid or an idiot...is that really the easy option?
So how then, can you avoid failure? The key is in a change of perspective. Next time you are considering doing that thing that you really don’t want to do (but deep down do) the thing that means putting yourself out there in business, going for that promotion or new job, wearing your heart on your sleeve with a potential love interest, and making yourself vulnerable tell yourself this –
1) There are no mistakes, only lessons.
2) There is no such thing as failure, only feedback.
Ask yourself, what did I learn, how can I do it differently next time, what is the message here? The more you practice this, the more you will grow, learn and develop, and the less you will experience ‘failure’.
Grab more top tips in the free e-book - especially for you if you THINK you don't know what you want to do (but most likely deep down you do, but admitting it means having to go for it...and that's scary stuff!).
To your success – be brave!
So you might be forgiven for thinking that the answer to the question ‘how do I avoid failure?’ is simply, don’t do that thing that you would like to do. It’s certainly an easy option isn’t it? Or is it?
Perhaps not, if you then start mentally beating yourself up. That not so little (quite loud and irritating actually) voice in your head going round and round in circles; what if you had done it? What would have happened? Playing out a scene of success and then failure, feeling frustrated, angry at yourself, guilty, embarrassed? Calling yourself stupid or an idiot...is that really the easy option?
So how then, can you avoid failure? The key is in a change of perspective. Next time you are considering doing that thing that you really don’t want to do (but deep down do) the thing that means putting yourself out there in business, going for that promotion or new job, wearing your heart on your sleeve with a potential love interest, and making yourself vulnerable tell yourself this –
1) There are no mistakes, only lessons.
2) There is no such thing as failure, only feedback.
Ask yourself, what did I learn, how can I do it differently next time, what is the message here? The more you practice this, the more you will grow, learn and develop, and the less you will experience ‘failure’.
Grab more top tips in the free e-book - especially for you if you THINK you don't know what you want to do (but most likely deep down you do, but admitting it means having to go for it...and that's scary stuff!).
To your success – be brave!
Have you experienced 'failure' then turned it into a positive? Share your stories here....comments and stories -
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