Written by Zac Czikowsky
You need to stop asking yourself if you will fail, and start asking yourself how you will react when you fail.
We all fail. It is just as much a part of life as success is, but truly successful people know that failure is simply an opportunity to learn. In this way, your failures are the most valuable tools you have to living a better life.
Thomas Edison was trying to invent the light bulb, and it wasn’t going very well. He ended up reaching 1,000 prototypes before his first working bulb. However, when a reporter asked him how it felt to fail 1,000 times, he responded: “I didn’t fail 1,000 times, the lightbulb was an invention that took 1,000 steps.” The only way Edison would have truly failed would have been to quit, to give up. But he persevered and his team crafted one of the most influential inventions of all time.
Your personal success is the lightbulb. You can look at each failure as a reason to give up, or you can look at it as an opportunity to grow and learn from your mistakes. With enough perseverance and willpower to learn, you will find your success, no matter what it might be.
We tend to think of failure as a roadblock, which stops you dead in your tracks and you either need to turn around or look for a different path. Failure is more like a mountain. It will take hard work and grit to climb, but once you have mastered it, you’ll be able to turn around and have a much better perception of the journey.
After all this time, Roosevelt's phrase “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” has become a bit of a cliché, but it still holds value. Don’t be afraid to fail, or else your fear will hold you back from taking risks. Make sure to keep your goal in mind, and when you feel the grip of fear creeping up on you, ask yourself “is this helpful for me to achieve my goal?” If the answer is no, let that fear go.
Fear of failure can also be a great tool and shouldn’t be ignored or suppressed. If you start to feel fear or anxiety, use it. Try to understand what the cause of your fear is. If you’re afraid that your public speaking skills aren’t good enough, take a class on it, or practice reading a famous speech in front of a mirror or to a friend. If you’re afraid that your presentation may have flaws, ask a coworker to look it over or practice it in front of a family member.
We can’t always control when fear will enter our minds, but we can control how to react to it. Always remember to ask “is this helpful to my goal” and if you can’t let the fear go, then let it motivate you.
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