The single best way to overcome your fear of failure
So what's the magic formula to stop feeling afraid of failing? Recognize that failure doesn't actually exist.
I know that sounds kind of trippy, so let me back up for a moment.
I’m reading Kyle Gray’s book, Raise Your Vibration, as part of his #111days on social media. (It's a great, easy-to-read book with lots of actionable steps!) Well, Day 16 was so powerful and huge that I immediately grabbed pen and paper and started writing down my own thoughts as I read it. Here’s why I’m sharing this lesson with you. Gray says:
“Failure is an illusion.” To have failed simply means
“something didn’t turn out according to plan
or the way we hoped.”
How’s that for shattering our perception of failure?! The problem, though, is that we tend to attach our own sense of self and our value onto whether or not we fail at something. That’s a total fallacy. Because nothing — and I truly mean absolutely nothing — can ever determine our worth. We have inherent value simply because we were born. Because we exist on this planet. Period. End of story. So the homeless man on the corner of the street who spends his spare cash on alcohol and cigarettes has the exact same amount of worthiness as the millionaire in the mansion who donates money to charity every year. If we release the idea that success in something makes us more worthy (ahem, more important and better than others), we can start to let go of the fear of failing. Because if you already know you’re worthy and good enough, your sense of self remains strong and intact no matter what happens in your life.
Truly, there is no failing. There are just different outcomes.
“Failure is a feeling and that feeling is simply the acknowledgment that things didn’t go the way you wanted,” Gray says. So today, I’d love for you to reframe your definition of failure. Instead of saying “I failed,” say “it didn’t work out the way I had hoped or expected.”
And know and trust that that's okay.
