How to Overcome the Fear of Failure!
Failure is something we’re programmed to hate. It’s only natural, why would we enjoy it? Failure is a hardship, it’s a disappointment. It’s also the greatest humbling and learning tool. We should not be afraid to fail in whatever we undertake. I came to a profound realisation whilst ruining my knees during my exercise. (Spoiler: they're okay now!)
I was attempting ‘speed squats’ with reasonably heavy weights. Needless to say, it didn’t go well. After a good few sessions of doing this, my knees were starting to suffer. I stopped the speed squats and returned back to my original way of squatting in a more controlled manner. As I returned to the old way I still felt pain in my knees. I remember thinking to myself, I should be really irritated about this. Why am I so calm? The answer hit me. There’s always tomorrow.
I have committed to exercise and to myself for the long term. My knees will heal. I’m in this for the duration. This small brief window of a mistake and failure will pass. My long term results will not be affected. All I've had is a small setback which in the grand scheme of things is seriously insignificant. When you can get to this place mentally, you are free from the stress of failure. Sure, it’s annoying but it’s not fatal to your goals.
If you’re getting stressed about relatively minor failures you have to reconnect to your foundation and purpose of the goal. Are you doing it for the right reasons? Are you in this for the long term whether it’s hard or easy? Or are you just in it for a short term gain? If so, failure is going to come a lot harder. It’s going to hit you so hard that you’ll most likely quit. Where is the pressure coming from? Is it time-related?
True commitments can last a lifetime. It’s a long road. You need a very clear vision of where you’re headed. When failures come, they'll only seem like a lesson or a relatively small blip in the grand scheme of things. You’ve got to be committed and doing things for the right reasons to be able to successfully absorb the failures along the way.
Failure isn’t so scary when you’re committed to the long term. There’s always tomorrow, it’s not final.
I was attempting ‘speed squats’ with reasonably heavy weights. Needless to say, it didn’t go well. After a good few sessions of doing this, my knees were starting to suffer. I stopped the speed squats and returned back to my original way of squatting in a more controlled manner. As I returned to the old way I still felt pain in my knees. I remember thinking to myself, I should be really irritated about this. Why am I so calm? The answer hit me. There’s always tomorrow.
I have committed to exercise and to myself for the long term. My knees will heal. I’m in this for the duration. This small brief window of a mistake and failure will pass. My long term results will not be affected. All I've had is a small setback which in the grand scheme of things is seriously insignificant. When you can get to this place mentally, you are free from the stress of failure. Sure, it’s annoying but it’s not fatal to your goals.
If you’re getting stressed about relatively minor failures you have to reconnect to your foundation and purpose of the goal. Are you doing it for the right reasons? Are you in this for the long term whether it’s hard or easy? Or are you just in it for a short term gain? If so, failure is going to come a lot harder. It’s going to hit you so hard that you’ll most likely quit. Where is the pressure coming from? Is it time-related?
True commitments can last a lifetime. It’s a long road. You need a very clear vision of where you’re headed. When failures come, they'll only seem like a lesson or a relatively small blip in the grand scheme of things. You’ve got to be committed and doing things for the right reasons to be able to successfully absorb the failures along the way.
Failure isn’t so scary when you’re committed to the long term. There’s always tomorrow, it’s not final.
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