What is Failure?
Did you know that you need to fail to live life? Yes, you do.
When we were all born, we never received a “book of life” that had all the rules laid out for us to skim through when we needed to refer to it.
Sure, people always told us what to do and what not to do growing up, but it wasn’t until you lived the events and saw them through your own eyes that you realized what worked or didn’t work, was good or bad, and what was a success or a failure.
Let me show how you can change your thoughts that you may finally reach your goals. But first, let’s dive into why you are being held back in the first place.
Why Getting Past Your Fears Of Failure Will Dramatically Change Your Life
When I first wanted to start a blog, I faced this uncertainty myself. I asked myself many times, was it worth it? Is anyone even going to read what I have to say? Was this just going to be a lot of wasted time?
The fact is, I didn’t know. And that’s the beauty of it. I could have a winner on my hands and not even know it.
It was a lot of work starting a blog but I felt that I had my unique outlook on things and a lot of great information to share. I kept on with it and said that I have nothing to lose, yet so much reward to gain.
The thing is, we as humans are not psychics. We cannot see into the future. If we don’t even attempt something, then we are not living, we are just observing. We are not living out our own lives; we are bystanders just sitting on the sidelines watching everything pass us by.
It’s until we make that attempt, take that first step, hit that first roadblock, that we know if what we are doing is the right decision or not.
If you keep moving forward, and trying your best, and not giving up, then you haven’t failed yet.
If you are driving down a road, and there is a fork in the road, and you have no map and no idea which way to go, you can choose to go right or left. For you to know which way is the right way to get to your end goal and destination, you may end up having to take that wrong road.
But the point I am trying to get you to understand is that you HAD to go down that wrong road to KNOW that the right road was the right way.
See, it’s not a failure. Its just eliminating the wrong option.
What You Can Do Right Now To Overcome Your Fear
Here are some great ways to bust through your fears and get on with your life:
1Ask Yourself, “What Is The Worst That Can Happen?”
Think worst case scenario here.
If you were to attempt to do what you wanted, what could happen that you feel is the worst case. Once you realize that it may not be all that bad, then trying it out might not be as bad as you first would have thought.
See Also: 3 Questions You Need To Ask To Overcome Your Fears
2Just Take Action
Make that first step, no matter how small. Even a little progress can open up your eyes to realize that things are not all that hard.
What would be harder for you to bear? Is it trying and failing at something, or not even trying at all and then living with the regret for the rest of your life that you didn’t even try?
3Focus On The Positives
Don’t focus on what bad things can happen from your attempts. Look at what great positive and rewarding things you can get out of accomplishing your goal.
For some reason, we always want to focus on the negative side of things. But we are so focused on what terrible things that could happen, that we forget the other side of the coin. We need to refocus ourselves on what great things that will come out of actions and our decisions.
Life is the same. Even if you don’t achieve your goal one way, you can certainly achieve it another. And even if that doesn’t work, just keep going. No matter how long it takes you to achieve your goal, keep going until you do.
4Don’t Take It Personally
Don’t take things personally, and treat the experience as a learning opportunity.
Just go and have fun with it. Make it into some game where if you don’t pass the level, that’s okay. Just press the reset button and try again. You can never lose.
Try, try and try some more. The more you start to live life and take action, instead of just watching it pass you by, the quicker you will learn to accept the hiccups in the road of life, and you will be able to better manage these unforeseen issues.
You will start to not treat these events as failures but as learning blocks — steps that you needed to take to achieve your goals.
5Forget About The Past
Forget about what’s happened in the past. Instead, focus on the goal right now.
Do not let old mistakes hold you back. Again, I hate using the words “mistakes” and “failures” because they are not.
Stop denying your past. Fix what you can and move on.
You cannot let your pride and ego get in the way of your success. When you feel that you have failed at something, don’t get mad at yourself or even others. Find out what went wrong, and fix it as fast as you can. Don’t repeat the same actions and you will be fine.
Final Thoughts
You see, failure is just another word for “I shouldn’t do it that way next time.” It’s as simple as that. Instead of looking at it as a failure, you should look at it as life telling you which path is probably not the one to take any more.
We can’t always play it safe in life. Don’t ever underestimate your worth. You are only limited by what your mind tells you that you are limited to.
Stop listening to the voice in your head, and start living a life without fear to do whatever you want to accomplish.
Just imagine what we could all accomplish if we knew that we couldn’t fail.
See Also: 5 Fears You Might Not Realize Are Holding You Back (And What To Do)
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Author: Maher Abiad
Maher Abiad has been in digital media and marketing since 2000. He runs his own online marketing agency named 3Seven7 Studios which helps businesses tells their stories and grow their audience through digital media marketing.
