Fear of Failure

In our childhood, we all heard a story of a spider, which fell again and again in making its web. With its struggle and hardworking, its attempts became successful, and finally made a web. How the spider managed to reach its goal with too many unsuccessful attempts? Because the spider did not bother with the fear of failure.

WHAT IS FEAR OF FAILURE?

Fear of failure, clinically known as Atychiphobia, is a certain feeling that never allows a person to pursuit of life goals and undertaking projects. People who live with atychiphobia often feel absolutely certain they will fail, even if that feeling is not based on reality.

This fear involves the belief that you are not capable of doing anything perfectly. This fear bounds a person in certain disappointments and crushed his confidence. Fear of failure is deeply connected with negative thoughts, procrastination, work load and some other traits that prevent people to move forward.

CAUSES OF FEAR OF FAILURES:

There are many causes of fear of failures, some most common and widely experienced causes are:

1. Critical upbringing:

People who grow up in overly controlled and strict households are more likely to face this fear. Their surrounding continuously focuses on their mistakes, until they started to believe that they cannot meet their family expectations. It results as a fear of making mistakes and failures; never allows them to succeed in their lives.

2. Perfectionism:

Perfectionism can sometimes be the root of fear of failing. Urge of perfectionism brings anxiety and people may have fear of mistakes and criticism. Sometimes their own settled high standards are the main cause of their fear. Their own achievement and high-performances becomes the hurdle of their way. Because anything short of perfection is highly unacceptable for them. This fear of not reaching the high standards brings intense fear of failing.

3. Load of expectations:

When family, friends and society expect a lot from someone, there is also a high risk of fear of failure. This load of high expectations may shattered their confidence and self-believe. Here, the fear of failure also leads fear of being judged by others. People sometimes dive into depression to fulfill others’ expectations for them.

4. Past negative experiences:

Sometimes people past disappointments and bad experiences don’t allow them to move forward. These bad happenings and accidents stick to their minds. That’s why people reluctant to try something of same perimeter as the fear of fail again. The fear doesn’t let them grow and progress in their lives.

They may feel that the past failure will always lead a terrible result in their future.

5. Fear of success:

Believe it, the fear of success is always a real fear of failure. Your ultimate list of success and achievements demands a continuous progress, and this can create a lot of pressure and anxiety, leading to a fear of failure in future endeavors. Your success rate makes you hard to accept any constructive criticism and help.

 

IMPACTS OF FEAR OF FAILURE:

The atychiphobia affects peoples’ life in different ways. It is not easy to identify its impact, some of the feelings that people may experience are listed below:

• The most important is losing confidence and developing a feeling of “I can’t”.
• People always experience a very drastic sabotage in their self-esteem and self-development.
• Procrastinating in new challenges and projects.
• Worrying about imperfections and not meeting their high standards.
• Abundance of negative thoughts filled their head when confronted with a new challenge.
• People often develop a strong believe that they cannot achieve anything big in their life, which take them towards anxiety and stress.
• Feeling about having lack of knowledge.
• Feeling of possess less value in peoples’ views and can’t meet their high expectations.

TIPS TO OVERCOME THE FEAR OF FAILURE:

After discussing, the causes and impacts of fear of failure on our lives, here are some simple steps and strategies to overcome this fear.

BE POSITIVE:

You cannot control your future, but you can control your thoughts. Avoid negative self-talking to undermine your confidence and self-esteem. Your positive attitude helps your mind to fly and work on new ideas and patterns to face the world confidently and bravery.

TALK TO MENTOR:

In times of fear and dismay, talk to someone you trust blindly. A person who listens to you patiently and responds wisely. A mentor who takes you back from depression and motivate you. Always try to accompany yourself with successful people; their story of success will give oxygen to your struggle and keep you positive.

MANAGABLE APPROACH:

Divide your work task into small realistic and manageable portions. Reframe it and give time to yourself to deeply work on it and get desire results. Set realistic and achievable goals and give expectations for yourself. By breaking your task in small portions, you feel relaxed and perform well.

WEIGH THE PROS AND CONS:

If you are not the journaling, it is the right time to start. Pen down all the fears you have and write all the strategies and plans, you can adopt to overcome your fear of failure. Now weigh the pros and cons and follow accordingly.

RECOGNIZE THE COST OF NOT TRYING:

Until you do not try, you will not success. Living in fear comes at a cost and the cost is your dreams, hopes and wishes. First step to try is actually the first step to defeat your fear. Until you don’t try, you can’t get your goals. When you face the fear; you grow, you learn, you fall, you rise and finally you win.

SELF-COMPASSION:

Always complement yourself, even on little success. Appreciate and enjoy your achievement. This self-compassion is like a little treat to boost your confidence and self-development, and cut down your fear of failure and disappointments.

ALLOW YOURSELF TO FAIL:

Always prepare yourself for any type of setback. First you need to understand that failure is a part of learning, which leads to success. Failure is not bad, but mentally accept yourself as a consistent failure is a worst situation.

One of the best ways to cope with the fear of failure is to admit it, learn from it and move forward.

A WORD FROM YOUTH REMINDER:

On a healthy check, fear of failing can be positive and lead you towards struggle, better plan, focus and prepare. But when this fear grows it is enough to make you mentally and emotionally paralyzed and isolated.

Fear of feeling is such feeling that everybody experience time to time, but this becomes more problematic when such feelings are persistent and you accept its supremacy. Practice self-compassion, manageable approach and some revolutionary steps; one can easily overcome this fear. These approaches could build one’s confidence and success path.

Wrote by Huma Nabeel