How To Overcome Fear Of Failure
Hello and welcome to hero TV I’m Gerald Rogers. And today, we’re going to be talking about how to overcome a fear of failure Boo! did I scare you? Probably not but, have you ever held yourself back in your life because we’re afraid of taking action? Have you ever been afraid of starting a business? or maybe afraid of talking to a girl and getting in a relationship? or afraid of what would happen if you tried out for a team? or whatever it might be has there ever been situations in your life where you’ve kept yourself from doing what you wanted because of a fear of failure? Right now, we’re going to be talking about a ear of failure and how to overcome that once and for all so you can step into your full power and to take action towards your goals and dreams. Now first of all, as we step back, it’s important that we understand where that fear comes from and what failure really represents to us. Because, inherently there is a connection in our mind that if we do something and if it doesn’t work out, that’s going to create pain in our lives. We’re always motivated by two things either a desire for pleasure, or a fear of pain. And for us, if something doesn’t work out the way we expect it to, then we label it as failure. And if it’s failure that becomes painful for us, because well, what will people think? people will think we’re losers. People will judge us. People will reject us or maybe it will be that the pain will come in the form of a financial loss, or a loss of status. Whatever it might be, there is a loss that exists within our mind. Now, is it true? as we look at any fear, is it true? Do we absolutely know that if we take this specific action it will create that result? I’m here to submit to you that nothing that we are afraid of is real/ It’s simply an imagined story in our mind. It’s something that we create in our mind based on imagining a negative outcome on a future event. That’s what fear is. Nothing more than projecting and using our imagination believing something what bad will happen if we take action. Now, that awareness of fear is the first step to breakthrough it. Because we realize that, fear is nothing more than imagining a negative outcome. We realize that, what if we could use that imagination to actually work for us? What if rather than imagining a negative outcome, we actually focused on creating a positive outcome? and that’s what we put energy into. Then what happens? the fear, the fear automatically dissolves. but I want to take this one step further as we talk about failure because, as I’ve worked with and interviewed and been around some of the most successful people in the world I’ve noticed that successful people, have an entirely different view of failure than those that struggle and have a hard time taking action.
In fact, what you’ll notice is this, Successful people do not believe that failure exists. That’s right. They don’t even believe that failure is real much less a possibility for them. And, I know that you’re sitting there like. “well, how could that be?” like, it’s true that you could lose money if you take action and start a business or you could and I’m not saying that successful people don’t believe that there are negative consequences that could happen for taking actions, they don’t. But, they don’t label it as failure. Because for a successful person they look at this it’s like, “as long as I take action whatever that inspired action is inside my heart and so as long as I take action I will get a result.” I will get a result. And that result maybe, what I’m intending. It maybe even better than I expect and that would be amazing, fantastic, that would be wonderful. If the action I’m taking right now will create that result. But the challenge is when you’re taking the action, you don’t know. And so, the other possibility exists that, okay well maybe I’ll get a result that is different than what I had originally planned on. Maybe, rather than having the success that I had intended in the first place, maybe there will be a challenge.
Maybe, there will be an obstacle. Maybe, something unexpected will occur. But is that really a failure? and for a successful person, they don’t see it as a failure at all. Because in the very, very, very worst-case scenario, what might happen? They’ll learn something. They’ll learn from a mistake. They’ll learn from a challenge or obstacle. They’ll learn from an outcome or result that wasn’t what they planned and in learning, they see themselves as successful. And then, seeing themselves as successful, they take whatever the learning lesson was that they gained, and then they take it, and take more aggressive, and more inspired action based on the new information which they have. And, this is critical because for the successful person, even if they don’t get the result that they want, they still see themselves as successful which allows them to continue to take inspired action. So, these are the two principles that I want to reinforce right now. Number one, fear is nothing more than imagining a negative outcome out of future events so rather than focusing on what you don’t want, focus on what you do want and watch what happens to that fear. The fear literally instantly can be changed to excitement when you only put energy into that which you want to create. The second part is recognizing that failure doesn’t exist. That any action you take based on inspiration towards your goals and dreams will lead you closer there. Even if it looks like something different than you had hoped.
When you take action towards your dreams, the worst-case scenario is you’re going to learn some really powerful lessons they’re going to make you stronger better and wiser in the future. Recognizing that there are no guarantees other than, if you take inspired action and keep moving forward every step will lead you closer to your dreams. And, I hope that this inspires you that any place in your life where you notice you’ve been holding yourself back because of fear of failure, I hope that now you can commit to take that action today. So let me give you a specific example in my life where I notice that I’ve been holding back from sharing my gifts with the world to holding back and pursuing my dreams because of the fear of failure and this takes me back years ago to when I was first starting to launch my business as a coach a speaker and mentor and at that time, I knew that I had a message inside me. I knew I wanted to get that message out to the world but I was afraid of failing. I was afraid that what if I try and no one wants what I have to offer? what if I try and I lose money? what if I turn and I kept myself in this in this box for so long because I was afraid of being judged. I was afraid of rejection. I was afraid of failing in this journey and I noticed that there came a point where I was so frustrated because I wasn’t making progress because I simply wasn’t taking actions. I had this dream in my mind but because of the fear of failure, I wasn’t willing or able to take action. I want to share with you specifically what happened in my life and how I broke through that fear and what’s happened because of that. So this was about 2008, and for years, I had this dream that I had just put on the Shelf and couldn’t get myself to take action because of this fear of failure. And then I met someone that changed my life forever. This was a guy that I looked at that had everything I wanted. He was a successful coach, he was a successful speaker, he was a mentor to so many people and I remember as I was talking to him one time he asked me a very pointed question
it’s like, “Gerald, why aren’t you doing this? why aren’t you creating packages or programs to share with the world? why aren’t you on stage sharing your message?” and I was just like, take him back because I felt like he saw me. I felt like he saw that dream inside of me. But I knew that I had been holding myself back because of the fear of failure and then, something shifted inside me. Because as I spoke to him, I realized that successful people in the world they don’t live completely without fear. They have just learned to take action in spite of the fear. In spite of the uncertainty. Recognizing that, the only certainty that exists is when we choose to take action towards our dreams.
The only certainty exist and, the certainty that we create within ourselves, knowing that we have the ability to navigate the unknown. And, and, I remember that specifically around the fear of failure I made a decision that said, “the only way I can possibly fail, is to not try. The only way I can possibly fail to continue to take this dream that I have and keep it on the shelf and to ignore it, to disregard it, to put it away. Because I was too afraid to take action. And so, I made a decision. And this is where the change happens just by making a decision, to take a step towards your goal. And for me, that looked like being bold and ideacious, and I remember I’ve set up my very first seminar. This was back in 2008 and was called the investor summit and I knew that it was my time to go big and to let my dream out. And, I took massive action and, in a very, very short period of time I think was from the decision to the event like with less than six weeks, I put on this incredible event. Now I’m putting on the event did everything work out the way I expected it to? No. It didn’t. In fact, I made a lot of mistakes during that first event and I even lost money during that. But at that time, because of the shift that had happened was in my mind, I didn’t look at it as a failure. I looked at it as this incredible success. Why? because I had chosen to take action. I had chosen to move forward in spite of the risk, in spite of the uncertainty, and moving forward taking all of those lessons I learned from that first event I was able to apply them to the second, to the third, and now you know close to nine years later, I have the blessing and opportunity to be able to do this full time and be able to bless lives with my message and that never would have happened if I allowed myself to continue to be held hostage by my fears.
So the lesson is this, number one, don’t give counsel to your fears. Rather pay attention your dreams, focus on your dreams, and then from that space, from that space, be willing to take bold courageous action allowing whatever happens to be a success. To learn the lessons. To re-navigate and to make a new decision to take another action. So, hopefully that serves you on your journey. I’m so excited to see what you create. Just remember, this is Gerald Rodgers, you’ve got one life to live, live big.
Thanks so much for watching hero TV today with Gerald and teaching us these things about how to overcome fear. And I do have to say, it was several years ago I was attending an event with you Gerald’s. Where, I was struggling to find my purpose and attending an event with you, I was able to really find my purpose and know who I am and what I’m supposed to do. I knew some of that from a religious perspective but from a career and just personal goal standpoint, really appreciate you helping me out with that. That was, it was, transformational. Down in the description I’ve got a lot of helpful resources and as always, live on purpose, make a difference, and be the hero!!!