Afraid to fail? Then wait longer for success

One of our greatest fears in management is that of failure. It can be so great that it leads to inertia, or the inability to act.

How many times have you put off doing something because you fear that you will not do it well?

There is nothing wrong with failing. It is better to try and fail than not to try at all. Anything that is worth doing is worth trying, even if badly at first.

The evidence of this is everywhere in life.

Take the case of toddlers. They learn to walk the hard way. They fall down and get up, over and over until they learn how to walk steadily.

As adults, we get impressed that they have even made the effort to stand up, let alone walk. We don’t withhold praise just because the child is still trying. Each effort is rewarded.

Anyone observing a child learning to walk knows that no baby learns to walk without having to go through the experience of falling. Falling does not stop them from trying. The desire to walk is greater than the fear of falling. The need to walk motivates the child to keep trying.

Likewise when we go through life, we learn to walk through it by falling. Why then should it be that when an organisation fails to meet its targets, everyone focuses on the failure? This makes failure seem larger than the effort made to succeed. Such reaction robs the organisation of a great opportunity to use the setback as the start of a great comeback.

EACH DAY A MASTERPIECE

The reality is that you only become a failure when you stop trying. Great inventors go through several failed attempts before they succeed. Their tenacity and ability to see themselves through dark moments of failing make them eventually succeed.

The difference between those who succeed and those who do not is the motivation to do so.

Are you performing below your potential because of fear of failure?

In his book, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever, Steve Chandler advises everyone to make today a masterpiece. He argues that most people delude themselves into thinking that they have all the time in the world. In the process, they let slip through their hands some of the finest opportunities.

Chandler gives the example of John Wooden, one of the most successful basketball coaches. As the coach for the UCLA team, Wooden told his players to focus on each day and make it a masterpiece. He wanted the players to retire to bed with the thought: “Today, I was at my best”. To Chandler, today is a microcosm of your entire life.

The fear of failure emanates from the thought that you will not be able to do it well. You already have a set standard on what you should be doing. Since you think you cannot get to that level, you refuse to try.

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Start with a rough draft, which will eliminate the mental inertia and become the baseline for your work. In addition, it helps to break the job into little pieces. This will help you to achieve small victories, which cumulatively, will give you the impetus to succeed.

It is better to burn out like candles that light up a dark room than rust out like an unused tool. Succeed or die trying.