Fear of failure doesn’t feel like a fear

People are afraid of spiders, flying, the dark, horror films. Fears paralyze you or make you scream when you come face to face.

Fear of failure is gentler. Most of the time it is just a quiet voice that stops you from doing new things.

It says things like:

• It probably won’t work, so why bother?
• Think of all the time you are going to waste on trying.
• Think of all the money you are going to waste on trying.
• Are you really in the right place to take those risks?
• People will laugh at you if it doesn’t work out.

The voice is so gentle that most of us would say that we have no fear of failure. We are being rational or sensible.

Yet many of the highest-achieving people say that they are driven by their fear of failure. They are determined to silence the voice at any cost.

Recognizing the voice as a fear is the first step to overcoming it.