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Manage Fear of Failure

Written by: Ian Keightley

Article Overview: Clues from past sucesses can help up beat fear of failure.

Manage Fear of Failure

©Copyright 2009 Ian Keightley. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward and distribute but copyright is retained.
Hi and welcome to Ian Keightley's Insight
I was working recently with Greg who had called to see me as he was really struggling to achieve success in the new environment. He was now in a position where he was too scared to try new things because of the fear of failure.
His head was full of all the bad news about the financial markets and he was listening to those who were saying the market is "bad", business confidence is low and it's a waste of time coming to work. Collectively he and his colleagues were in a spiral of failure and because of this were afraid to challenge themselves by doing something new or different.
This had Greg focusing on what he knew he could do. He did this even though he was experiencing ample evidence that it was no longer working. Greg loved his job, he loved the sense of staisfaction a new sale brought BUT he was denying himself this potential for more success because of fear.
Greg and I talked for sometime and he spoke with passion about past successes, about how it felt when a great sale came together. He lamented his current lack of success. I asked him to examine his current failures and asked him to identify any lessons he could observe.
Greg's two lessons were a really simple observation for him.
1. He needed to show he was really committed because as he said, "If I was really committed to something and and experiencing failure, I would be getting straight back up again and giving it another go. I am letting failure and the fear of more failure destroy my commitment. I need to simply get back up and get on with it"
2. "I have been expecting what worked in a different market to continue to work in this market. It's so clear that I need to apply these skills, strategies and dialogues I have heard about. Until now I have thought they weren't necessary. I need to adopt new skills and tactics. Pretty simple when you look at it this way."
Greg's observations may appear simple and yet they were a lesson he needed to discover for himself. Simple solutions are best and often you will find these "golden solutions" tucked away in a recent failure. Greg was brave enough to examine the failures of recent weeks and create a positive and inspiring lesson and motivation for himself. Greg is back on track and full of new success stories.
We all need to be honest and accept we have had days where we question the validity of what we are doing and yet some grow past this and succeed despite the market. Is this because in failure they are brave enough to see a lesson, courageous enough to get back up and try again and wise enough to accept that they need to implement the lesson.
Greg's lesson is simple: "You can often find a "golden lesson" hidden under a weight of failure. You just need to be brave enough to take a look."
Quote for the Week
"Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasures of their true selves."
Carol Pearson
Have an awesome week and resolve this week to be the most courageous you have ever been and tackle a dragon or two.

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Article Tags: ample evidence, bad business, bad news, business confidence, colleagues, dialogues, different market, fear of failure, financial markets, insight, job, observation, passion, spiral, successes, waste of time



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Re: Fear of Success - You don't need to fear success. We should embrace it. Fear is define by a man of God as False Evidence Appearing Real. the meaning is what we fear most does'nt come to pass
Other Great Books... - Feel The Fear And Do It AnyWay - Susan Jeffers How To Stop Worrying And Do It Anyway - Dale Carnegie ('What's the worst that could happen - the worst?' Then prepare yourself for that and reality is such a relief!).
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Oct 8, 2010 - these are great! In particular, I liked "you’re already perfect" and "Smashing through the Black Wall of Fear." That's exciting that there is a new 4-hour book out. I really enjoyed "The 4 hour Workweek."


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