Should you take a chance, or should you play it safe? Whether you want to ask someone on a date or run a marathon, there are potential risks and rewards. On the other hand, you know that if you don’t try anything, you also don’t gain anything, and the thought of regret starts to enter and linger if we are not careful. So, what’s holding you back from achieving your goals and living your dreams? It may be fear of failure, fear of success or both. That’s right; it’s possible to have a fear of failure and a fear of success at the same time.
This is such an interesting question. Could this be why many of us suffer from asking questions, asking for help, or asking someone to be a mentor?
It is critical that you differentiate between “I am a failure” and “I failed to achieve my goal.” Everyone makes mistakes and has failures. This doesn’t mean we are failures as human beings. Quite the opposite; failure is part of what makes us human. We have a fantastic ability to learn from our mistakes. Many of the most successful and ingenious people had multiple failures before becoming famous. Today, we would like to challenge you to try Googling failure + Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, Milton Hershey, Walt Disney, or any successful celebrity you admire and see what you learn.
There are many reasons why many of us suffer from failure of success. One of the reasons is deep down; many people believe that they don’t deserve their success. This can be based on many reasons, from not wanting to stand out to internalizing our naysayer thoughts and words. Another reason has do to with our habit of doubting our abilities to do extraordinary things. We all need to be more aware of the limits we are constantly putting on ourselves daily.
Fear of success can be easily be confused with fear of failure, as either can keep us from reaching our goals and reaching our full potential. Fear of failure involves beating yourself up and speaking poorly to yourself. In comparison, fear of success is more about anticipating how others will react to your triumph. We are all here for a short time. Do your best to be your best cheerleader and not your biggest enemy; believe in yourself!
By Deklon Roberts
