Fear is a very powerful form of emotion found in everyone. Some may fear flying in a plane, some have fears of driving, some may find it hard to face decisions, while others just procrastinate and end up doing nothing. Fear for many is a state of mind, in which an individual may find it hard to get things done or think that it is not easy to perform the task. However, since it is only a state of mind, it may be easy to overcome it, as we need only to think on pondering over them, act and see them disappear. For many it can be instant, for others it can be hard, but there are ways and plenty of advice that can help overcome fear and get you going.
- Appreciate Your Successes
Author Minda Zetlin talks about the need to appreciate small successes and then celebrate them and brag about them. There are multiple reasons to do this. One of the most important is the fact that our mind responds to positive energy and appreciating success make it one important element of overcoming fears. Unless we know from the inside that we have the ability to accomplish something, we might not be able to accomplish anything. Primary focus should always be on accomplishing small tasks to achieve a bigger task. If you have fear of climbing or going to office or college tomorrow, try first to set small goals, giving you the advantage to portray that you have not lost completely.
- Find the Obstacles
In a 2001 research study conducted by Journal of Experimental Social Psychology to help students understand how to overcome failure in college, students were asked to think about the upcoming week both as a positive and in a negative manner. Those who were positive were not energetic enough to appreciate it, but those who had negative thoughts constantly thought of the ways to overcome them. It makes sense, to know your obstacles, which may help ease the fear. If you have a fear, think over the issues because of which you may be facing them, rather than sitting and thinking of yourself as a failure.
- Try Becoming Socially Active
For many, overcoming fear of failure can be hard, since they close themselves up in a room and stop socializing. The fear of rejection increases if you stop trying. Hence, Amy Morin, a psychotherapist, college psychology instructor, and speaker, tells that the fear of rejection can only be overcome by starting to take new opportunities. You will always fail until you identify new opportunities to work upon. Secondly, if you really feel you will be rejected, start talking to or pleasing many people at once, even saying “yes, I agree with you” can increase your chances of being accepted. Moreover, try speaking up your own ideas, rather than just accepting others. You can get professional essay writing service to help with your work just when you feel a bit overwhelmed.
- Stop pretending Fear does not exist
Staying inside your comfort zone may make it harder to find ways to overcome failure. Comfort zone means you have a routine; you are rigorously following, and are not trying to do anything else because you know the current options work. It will make your brain not to accept new challenges with the mindset that new things may lead to failure. Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson, in 1998 through their psychological study highlighted the need to reach optimal anxiety, to overcome fear and come out of our comfort zones. When you are out of the comfort zone, you will not pretend that fear does not exist and automatically become productive enough to overcome new challenges. Unless you work on new ideas, you brain will stop developing the tendency to respond to them. Nevertheless, try doing daily tasks in a new manner every time you perform them, make a new study plan for exams, take a different route to work or college, and consider new career opportunities to grow. Do not let your fear to evolve into anxiety.
- Stop Procrastinating
Psychologist Margie Warrell says that when we start procrastinating, we automatically grow a fear of failure. It, in turn, has the potential to disrupt our education, career, work, personal life and even our finances. Hence, it is important to complete work when it is due, or even before, in order to have a positive mindset when moving to the next milestone. Nevertheless, you need to act in a passive aggressive manner in order to get your tasks done before they become fears and ultimately help you fail. The best way to overcome this is by making achievable goals and rewards yourself over their fulfillment.
- Read Motivational Stories of Others
Stories have the potential to enlighten you, give you strength, open up your minds and expose your creativity. All this helps our mind to stay positive and think of ourselves as not the only one who have the fear of failures. Almost every academician, or a businessperson, has failed. Many have got bankrupt and rebuilt themselves. They would have never done this if they had sat back thinking over their failures in a closed room without windows. Steve Jobs started from a garage, was ousted from his own company and no one took his Apple products seriously. By 2003, he was back in his company, and his products had revolutionized the smartphone market. Apple still happens to be the leader in mobile products, being making not just products, but something that is nothing short of a technological marvel.
The CEO of popular homemaking company ODC Constructions, Isaac Lidsky was diagnosed with a disease that may have made him blind by the age of 25. That did not stop him from starting his own tech company and then selling it at an age of 20. He then completed his degree in law from Harvard, while overcoming his fears not giving up. It is the best example to see, where personal limitations should never be the reason of our failures. For him, all of his responsibilities of life start and end up with him only, and it was he who had to overcome his fears, rather than having an image of his disabilities in his mind.