4 Simple Tips to Decode your Fear of Failure
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As a follow-up to my previous post on the TOP 7 Workplace Fears here is my take on Fear of Failure.
Fear of Failure immobilizes us and causes us to do nothing. I have every reason to believe that the origins of our fears can be traced back to our childhood. Based on the conflicting messages we get from people around us we start making decisions about ourselves and about our ability. Either you are over protected or you are questioned for every decision or statement you make.
As these become patterns, we start adapting the messages given to us. For instance you may have heard people saying this “Are you sure you want to get into this field? I don’t know if you would be able to sustain?” or “No matter how hard he tries, he never gets the marks he deserves”. Now if your parents or guardians keep saying this in your presence, you will either rebel against it or you may adapt those messages and define your life script of being a loser.
Symptoms of Fear of Failure
If you have four or more of the following symptoms then you have a Fear of Failure!
1. Unstructured environment or new challenges make you uncomfortable.
2. Your fear freezes your ability to execute against any projects and/or tasks.
3. You are unable to connect to your fear, and you often disassociate yourself from it.
4. You often find yourself procrastinating the tasks – you feel that running away from it would keep you safe!
5. Lack of clarity or direction gives you jitters, and you avoid asking questions.
6. You come across as defensive and are not open to feedback as you see it as criticism of your work.
7. You often feel demotivated when things do not go as per plans.
8. You often worry about what people are thinking about you!
9. You are unable to focus on the task at hand thus affecting your overall performance.
10. You judge your own capabilities based on one or two failures.
11. You are low on self-awareness.
12. You take mistakes personally and keep dwelling on the past.
13. Due to the fear of judgement, you do not share your feelings and thoughts with people around you.
14. You often have sleepless nights and may even experience panic attacks.
4 Simple Tips to Decode your Fear of Failure
- Make a list of Opportunities that you may have missed out on due to your Fear of Failure. Do not judge yourself while making this list.
- Know Your Game – What Defines You? What Can Make You? What can Break you? What Drives You? What’s your Purpose?
- Connect to your fear and decode the message it’s trying to give. For instance, I had stage fear and it took me a while to overcome it. I connected to my fear and realized that I was mainly afraid of being judged. I made an effort to stop judging myself and gradually accepted myself for who I was. This helped me improve my ability to speak in public.
- Take Baby Steps – move out of your comfort zone, do two things every day to overcome your Fear of Failure. Document your learnings and repeat the exercise until you learn to move forward regardless of our fear of failure.
Remember that everything you’ve ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear! So be gentle with yourself and work on your fears.
The next wave of Workplace Wellness will focus on making people Conscious, Authentic and Purposeful.
If you wish to know more about Conscious, Authentic and Purposeful Conversations and would want me to talk about it during your next Lunch & Learn Session or any other Event then CONNECT with ME to BOOK A SLOT!
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