Fear of failure (known as atychiphobia) is defined as a marked emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reaction that is triggered by the mere thought that a certain goal may not be achieved.
This type of disorder affects men all too often, but it is possible to overcome it.
What is the fear of failure?
Everybody makes mistakes all through their life. If it is hard for many to accept defeat, and even harder to learn from those mistakes to prevent a more frustrating future, there are those who find it hard to accept failure.
Fear of failure can be defined as an emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reaction to the potential negative consequences.
Some men are so frightened by the idea of failure that they are plagued by strong discomfort, negative thoughts, and intense worry. This, therefore, makes decision-making cumbersome and this mental hurdle near impossible to overcome. If this sounds like you keep reading to learn how to deal with it.
The fear of failure leads you to avoid risks, and consequently, not letting you discover the boundaries of your abilities, which is paramount for every great man needs to discover.
At the base of the fear of failure, there can be several causes, such as a lack of confidence in one’s abilities.
This kind of fear keeps you safe in your comfort zone, starving you of new experiences, to face new challenges, and therefore to acquire new information for the foundation of your achievable success.
Remember, if it were easy everybody would be doing it. failure is proof you tried and your mind was set to achieve it. Failure is a goalpost to show you a better way, all failure means is you give the right amount of effort just with the wrong information. What you don’t realize is how close you are to success. For this reason, keep growing and learning.
The fear of failure can have multiple consequences. In the short term, the fear of failure affects all types of goals that the person pursues, the strategies he uses to achieve them, and the criteria used to understand if he is going in the right direction.
In the long run, the fear of failure could cause even bigger problems affecting a person’s physical and mental health. People who are afraid of failure often experience a deep sense of fatigue and apathy, they feel emotionally drained, they are more dissatisfied with their lives, they experience chronic worry and despair, and their physical performance becomes objectively worse.
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What to do to overcome the fear of failure?
The first important thing to take into consideration to overcome the fear of failure is to become aware of a simple but equally important concept: in life the pathway to success is full of stumbling blocks to prepare you for the success you’re looking for.
In addition to this life advice that we should all learn to follow, there are some useful tips that will help you overcome this psychopathology.
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- Analyze what happened. To learn from mistakes, first, we need to analyze what happened as objectively as possible. First understand the only variable you can control is you. Looking at what you can do better without placing the blame on others and circumstances is an excellent place to start. You must be self-critical and analyze what are the elements that have not worked and what modification possibilities you have on them. These kinds of reflections will help you find the solution.
- Accept your mistakes. Successful people are those who manage to accept their mistakes as necessary to achieve success. It is therefore essential not to blame yourself, focusing on what went wrong, but to see the mistake as a learning opportunity.
- Change your point of view. Too often we tend to associate failure with our person, feeling like we are the only ones who cannot achieve something. In this regard, it is important to compare yourself with other people who have had the same experience as you had. This will help you to realize that understanding that probably that type of situation or feeling does not belong only to us, but that everyone has experienced them, and this will help you to put what you experienced in a different light.
- Try to be as consistent as possible. Often people tend to forsake a goal right away when they fail or when doors are slammed in their face. So, ask yourself how much you are interested in achieving the goal you have set for yourself. If your goal corresponds to a strong desire, then it will be impossible to give up.
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- Turn fear into action. The fear of failure often stops people from taking any action. Furthermore, in addition to not having done anything useful, for this lack of resolution, one often feels firmly guilty. To be able to better overcome this psychological block, it is important to become aware of what lies behind your concerns. Very often, in fact, your intentions are not carried out, because you start to think that something bad could happen, but what it is not even clear to you. So, stop and think about the worst situation that could occur if you decide to act, doing everything wrong. Then start thinking about what will realistically happen. Thinking about the worst will help you to reduce the actual extent of your fears, to place yourself objectively, and to better deal with the situation that arises in front of you.
- Learn to say no. Very often we tend to say yes to everyone to avoid conflicts. But think for a minute about how you are getting used to these people, who will end up considering your precious time of little value. They will get the idea that you are at their service, that their needs are more important than yours and that you are unable to negotiate the things that are important to you. In this way you enter a dangerous spiral, which will make you depend on the judgment and needs of others, avoiding making your own decisions or taking matters into your own hands for fear of failure. So, learn to say yes first to yourself and then also think about the needs of others, without ever letting the woods of others prevail over yours.
