Fear Of Failure: 3 Steps To Learn From Failure and Catapult Your Success
From a very young age we are all taught that we need to succeed. That success is the ultimate way to ensure that we will have a happy and fulfilling life. And, as true as they may be, we often forget one key component of success – failure.
Failing just for the sake of failing though, is no good. But, learning from past mistakes can take you much further in life and help you develop to skills that you otherwise wouldn’t, had you been on easy streak and never experienced a setback.
Some of the most successful people on the planet have failed their way forward. Meaning, they failed, learned from their mistakes, and got better with each lesson over time. Failure is often the sole component that pushed them to ultimate success. In short, failure can be a gift, if approached correctly. Steve Jobs, founder of one of the most prominent brands to ever exist, Apple, cemented this theory with the following statement:
“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Steve Jobs
As enlightening as a lesson on a failure we encounter can be, it still doesn’t negate our natural instinct and desire to win. Our feelings of failure are rippled with fear. But, if we can face our fear and learn from our failures what we get is the ultimate success.
There are three steps to stop the fear of failure in its tracks so that you can progress into the future:
1. Face the truth
When failure strikes the only thing you can do is look it straight in the face and acknowledge it. So, you failed, now what? The fear of failure and the denial of it, is the quickest way to stunt your own progress.
2. Figure out what worked and what didn’t work
Once you accept the fact that you failed, it’s now time to figure out what components of your particular situation aided in the actual failure. You do this in order to and pinpoint exactly why it is that you failed so you don’t do it again.
3. Change what didn’t work and re-shape your path
Now that you’re aware of why you failed, it’s time to carve a new path. To start anew, implement things that worked the first time and avoid making the same mistakes that caused you to divert initial success.
“Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing.” – J.K. Rowling
The next time you find yourself failing, use the failure to push yourself forward, instead of using it as a crutch to give up. If you can go through life with that mindset, there’s isn’t anything that you can’t achieve. Think about this past year, what were your major failures and what lessons can you take from them in order to excel in 2016?
