In week one after leaving my corporate position, after having been with my company for over eleven years and started this hobby of a business a few years prior, everyone just assumed I was going to go into my business full-time. But here I was that first week, looking for another corporate position.
I realized I had a total fear of failure!
I called my husband, Matt, from the hotel, crying, telling him how scared I was to even think about leaving the comfort of a 15-year corporate experience to go off and do my own business.
How did I finally make the decision and get over that fear of failure? I realized that I would just figure it out.
This didn’t mean that I thought I would achieve success, that I would just figure that out. It meant that I knew I was going to have failures along the way, but at every single failure I would figure it out. That instead of thinking of something long term about, “Did I achieve it or not?” it was, “What am I going to learn along the way?” And I believe in my ability to learn, to understand, to course-correct, and figure things out.
Where have you not taken that leap? Where are you not taking that next step, because you have a fear of failure?
I’m inviting you to shift your perspective and don’t think about whether you get from here to there as a determinant of failure or success; it’s about the path.
Are you learning along the way? Do you believe in your ability to learn and shift and adjust? And it doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be egg on your face at times, that you’re not going to feel embarrassed. But as long as you’re picking yourself up and saying, “Hey, I made that mistake; I learned from it, and now I’m moving on to the next point,” then there is no failure. You keep moving forward.
Where are you holding yourself back? Where do you need to shift your mindset and get over that fear of failure? Comment below, share that with us.