Three Simple Steps to End Your Fear of Failure

It's easy to worry about failure when you're trying to create a fulfilling work-life.

Have you ever had one of those days where you’ve thought, “What if this is as good as it gets?!” or “What if a fulfilling work-life is just not in the cards for me?”

I definitely have. I used to think I was just a weirdo for not enjoying my work like my colleagues did, and that I'm just not a "work person." I thought that for the rest of my adult life, I would just have to suffer through most of my waking hours at a full-time job I didn't care for, and then I'd retire. And then I'd get sick. And then I'd die. It was bleak.

Today I wanted to share a "fear of failure" exercise from my mentor Melissa Pharr, who reminded me this year that when you try to push away those fears of a bleak life, they just get worse.

I usually don't share others' exercises verbatim, since I'm obsessed with myself and my exercises (duhz), but I am making an exception for this important mentor because this has been super helpful to me.

To release fear of failure:

1) Feel your fear.
I know it feels like the last thing that you want to do, but you know the saying, what you resist, persists.
Fear is just here to get our attention and help us learn whatever we need to learn next to become ready to ALLOW our desires to feel like a real possibility.

2) Ask yourself what this fear is here to teach you.
Yes, it seems woo-woo, but we’re usually pushing fear away and NOT giving ourselves time to just feel it, let alone reflect on why it might be coming up. Asking what your fear is here to teach you can hold the key to growth.

3) Decide upon a response that is in line with your desires, instead of your fear.
Once you have some idea, even if it’s just a guess, about what your fear is here to teach you, it’s time to ask yourself, ‘How can I respond to this emotion in a way that is aligned not with my fear, but with where I actually want to go?’

There’s something about this process that will majorly help you build trust in yourself. As you see yourself being that person who has a fulfilling and energizing work-life, you will see with time that little will get in your way.

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