One the greatest obstacles to our success is our own fear of failure.

We all experience it. That little voice inside our heads that suggests we're not good enough, that nobody cares what we have to say or that we don't have enough expertise to become an authority in our niche.

Everybody experiences the fear, including those we consider super successful. The difference between those that achieve and those that don't is how that fear is handled and the good news is that you can do it.

I'll freely admit that I've fallen victim to the fear of failure many times in my life. There are so many things that I haven't done because I'd listened to that insidious whispering that undermined the confidence that I'd achieve my goals.

It's easy to just say, "don't listen to it" but it doesn't work that way. You're not ignoring an unhelpful friend or well-meaning relative. You're fighting against your own lifetime of experiences and mistakes. We develop mental safeguards to protect us from emotional harm we've received in the past when things went wrong. We learn to survive by avoiding the things that have hurt us before.

The key is reprogramming how we think.

It's a little bit of cognitive behavioral therapy. It's a little bit of neural linguistic programming. It's challenging the way that your brain has evolved to behave.

One of the first things you can do to combat the fear of failure is to make a plan and use goals so you can see what you're doing well and that you're making progress.



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mmonterola Premium
Very helpful and inspirational. Thanks! Marita
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Kettei Premium
You're welcome. I'm glad it was helpful. :)
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ChrisDE Premium
Great post, Phil! Thanks for that!!!
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Kettei Premium
You're welcome Chris - I hope it's helpful.
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Zappades Premium
Great work. we all need to learn to live without fear.

Fear is made to help us detect real dangers bur nowadays it has come to be a disease and tool to manipulate us.
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Kettei Premium
Thanks Stefan.

Fear truly is counter-productive in our modern lives and the more control we have over it, the more we can achieve.

Your observation was an interesting one. Fear is often used to manipulate us - insurance salesmen use it all the time!
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Zappades Premium
I think it's a great topic to talk about and many people will be touched.

But, always the buts, it is made a tabu theme. How is it easier to control people than making the important things a tabu.

You can make a great site with this, I won't read it, too much bad energy but opening the eyes of people is a heroic thing and very needed these days.
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CarlanderS Premium
I agree. Sometimes you have to step outside your comfort zone.
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Kettei Premium
I'm not sure it has to be all about bad energy.

Overcoming our pre-programmed misconceptions in order to become successful can be a very positive process!

It seems many of us are leaving the lives we could have on the table because we keep doing what we've always done.
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Kettei Premium
Totally - the only way to achieve a life of comfort is to stop being comfortable with life!

It's amazing the pressure we feel to stay in our comfort zones when we try to step out of them too!
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Zappades Premium
You're right, the process and from there on is positive.

I wish more people would overcome fear and try something new, something they are passionate about.
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