Comments on: Overcome Fear of Failure, Part I — Building the Right Mindset

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:09:21 +0000

Hi Cybvep,

Very good point about the difference between fearing things when 1) you can do something about it (useful) and 2) when you cannot (irrational).
Regarding your question about other people’s expectations, there’s no easy answer. It’s hard to ignore the opinions of friends and family but, at some point, you’ll need the courage to. Other people’s expectations are, really, their problem: ultimately, they set their own expectations — not you. It took me a while to understand that, and it helped me a lot liberating myself from caring too much about other people’s opinions.

By: Cybvep

Cybvep — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 11:21:23 +0000

Nice article. I pretty much agree with all the points the author makes. I just want to add that fear of failure BEFORE things are done can actually be quite motivating, as one will feel the need to succeed. However, once the task is done and one is awaiting the results (be it evaluation, exam results or whatever), fear of failure becomes deeply IRRATIONAL. I mean, there is nothing we can do to change the outcome, anyway, so why bother ourselves with experiencing fear in such case? Once we realise that, it becomes easier to handle.

Personally, I think that I am getting better and better at reducing my stress levels after failure. However, I have found out that one obstacle is extremely hard to overcome – the reaction of others, ESPECIALLY your family and best friends. This is important in cases when you usually succeed in your tasks and fail just once in a while, as people EXPECT only success from you. You can do many things with your own mindset, but changing the mindsets of other people is an entirely different matter. Moreover, your family and best friends are not the groups of people you can easily ignore, so the matter can be quite serious. Any ideas how to deal with it?

By: Kamal Thakur

Kamal Thakur — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:40:39 +0000

Well .. rational mind is often related to negativity because of the way it acts It is too vulnerable to accept negativity and still disagree with it..

By: Solution of Overcome Fear of Failure

Solution of Overcome Fear of Failure — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 07:02:54 +0000

You have to fail, you should fail, it’s a natural part of the steadily building process, part of the way we individuals discover, and the only way we truly learn. Failure is merely accomplishing a thing the wrong manner. We may ‘ve got 9 things right but the 10th wrong causing our strategy failing. Using this method you can easlily beat the fear of failure.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:50:20 +0000

I really like the William D Brown quote. People aren’t failures, though sometimes is seems so. It’s so odd that it isn’t really failure that stops us, but rather, the fear of failure. In my own life, I still haven’t eradicated my fear of failure. That’s why I’m grateful for posts like this one. Your tip number 5 is perfect for me.

By: Vijay - Your Health Supplements Guide

Vijay - Your Health Supplements Guide — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:04:27 +0000

Amazing post! Really helps to gain deeper insights into our own mind and how we perceive failure. It’s true that we must keep marching forward in life and stick to our convictions – failures do come in the way, but they are not worth quitting our journey! Success is worth all the efforts and failures that come in its path!

By: Patrice

Patrice — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:35:52 +0000

Very impressive post and a good reference of smart ideas on how to overcome fear of failure. I’ll definitely check the part II.

By: Kent Roper

Kent Roper — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:44:13 +0000

I found the book used here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0875796966/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1252013971&sr=8-1&condition=all

It’s been a while since I read it. If my memory serves me correctly it is mostly geared toward teenagers, and deals with self-esteem, problems of perfectionism, and finding out what your talents are.

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:24:21 +0000

I agree 100% with your comment, Bas. Thanks for articulating it so well.

On a side note, I get the feeling that people sometimes refer to the term ‘rational mind’ with negative connotation. Does anyone also notice that or is it just me?

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:17:01 +0000

That’s certainly an interesting title for a book, Kent!

Unfortunately, it seems the book is long out-of-print, and thus not available for order on Amazon.com. Too bad, as I got really curious about it… oh well.

Thanks for the recommendation anyway!