Don’t let fear of failure stop you

Recently I’ve been committed to doing things that scare me (almost) every day. Too often I found myself experiencing this great fear of doing something because of stories I was telling myself. Stories about not being good enough, about people perhaps not knowing anymore who I am and many, many other reasons why whatever it was I was contemplating doing was bound to end in a disaster.

Of course no disaster happened. And I knew it wouldn’t when I finally stepped, leaned into that fear, went ahead and did what it was I scared of doing. It took some work to get to that point where I could lean in, though.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who ‘suffers’ fears, great and small, of doing things because we’ve been telling ourselves very convincing stories with all the reasons we shouldn’t risk getting hurt, humiliated or worse.

So I thought I’d share some of my favourite »conquer your fears« quotes that inspire me to – both in my personal and professional life – keep doing things that scare me.

The thing you fear most has no power ~Oprah Winfrey

By starting to shine a light on your fears and speaking them with a trusted family member, really good friend or a great coach, you will make your fears smaller, more manageable, thereby less fearable (is that even a word?) and easier to act upon.

It’s like rappelling down a mountain. It scares the sh*t out of me when I’m standing on top facing into the deep. Leaning into the rope, trusting it and my climbing partner and then letting go of the mountain, the one solid thing I could be holding onto, is one of the scariest things you can ask me to do.

Not leaning in though will literally get me nowhere and I will just remain stuck up there with no place to go.

Once I do let go and trust it will be alright it’s one of the most exhilarating things I’ve ever done and an enormous confidence booster.

Learned the secret of life ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

As a reminder that I have it in me to conquer something I fear (almost) every day, I’ve only got to think back to my climb of the Schlieferspitze (3,290m / 10,794ft), when I got to conquer my (thankfully not debilitating) fear of extreme heights and of crossing glaciers. By the way, I’m the one in the middle.

Try and find a positive experience where you were scared to do something but did it anyway only to find it wasn’t half as bad as you thought it would be. Let it be your personal reminder that you have it in you to conquer any new fear you find yourself facing.

The fear of failure ~Paolo Coelho

Fear does not serve your greatest life ~Joy Page

There are of course times when our fear serves us well. But when we let our fears stop us from figuring out what is truly important to us, from how we can live a more meaningful life, fear is not helpful.

I know it is scary to do what it is you really want. It took me years to come to the point where my fear of what the life I was living would lead me to was greater than the fear of pursuing the life I wanted for myself.

So take some time to take a hard look at whatever it is you fear and ask yourself: “Is this fear serving my greatest life?”

Share your thoughts below and let me know what you think. Be as specific as you can when you share your thoughts. Other people, Trailblazers like you, will be inspired by your ideas and actions.

Thank you for reading and adding your voice to the conversation.

As always…

Go dare greatly!