Fear of Failure, the Malady and the Cure

Written by Jeremy McCluggage C.Ht.

By Jeremy McCluggage C.Ht.

Fear of Failure is one of the most common reasons people do not go into business. I went with my three year old to the pool this summer, and even though I am a strong swimmer. I was chastised by my lovely wife, to keep to the shallow end of the pool when I was in the water with him.

I am sure there was wisdom in that advice regarding a three-year-old child, how many of us keep to the shallows in life. Even more ridiculous, is how often we as parents or spouses give the same advice to those we love even when they are much older.

Now I am being metaphorical. Even as I sit here writing, I who pride myself in being loose with my chastisements, cringe at the memory of my doing just such a thing on many occasions. So our fear of failure does not just apply to ourselves. We instill it in our children and those around us just as readily.

So applying this to business, or sports, we tell those in our life that we love that we do not want them to get disappointed or hurt. I wonder at our true motivations. I am one of those, where if I am going to fail I normally leave a Jeremy sized hole in the wall. I fail the same way I succeed, with a flourish.

I am not sure who said the phrase the spoils go to the daring, yet I have heard this stated over and over again. I have succeeded in business and I have failed. Such is life. A wise man once said that it rains on the just and the unjust. Being afraid and not even beginning because of our fear of failing is crazy if you logically think about it.

You are hallucinating that you will fail before you even start. I do believe they make medications for such maladies. Before you go out and start popping anti-psychotics, consider the following technique I use to overcome such thoughts.

I consider the worst thing that could happen and then if I can deal with it, I go for it totally putting any idea of such an outcome out of my existence. I scratch out the worst thing that could happen and then write the best outcome possible and I read it morning noon and night and burn it into my psyche.

I know viscerally that I am a winner and a champion. When I have a challenge, like one of my businesses crashes and burns I am incorporating another one before the ink dries on the dissolution paperwork for the failed venture. You only fail if you quit, and I do not have any quit in me.

It comes down to character. Either you have it, or you can get it. Each and every person out there has the ability to win big, yet to win big it often means that you must dream big and risk something. Stop letting the world tell you to stick to the shallow end of the pool. Dare to dive into the deep end. Of course make sure there is a lifeguard on duty when you do.

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