Are you having Fear of Failure, How to overcome Fear of Failure | msob.edu.in

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” ~Buddha.

Thinking influences actions. Sometimes, actions are situational. Thinking according to the situations is good when we think positively. For example., in a cricket match if a bowler takes more wickets, the batsman develops a kind of fright which pulls him down and he may give his wicket to a very loose ball. This is called fear of failure. This happens in our real life as well. This kind of phobia is called Atychiphobia. Atychiphobia is a Greek word; Atychi means unfortunate and phobia means fear. A person afflicted with Atychiphobia considers the possibility of failure so intensely that they choose not to take the risk. When a person is fails again and again in spite of trying hard, at some point in time he gives up trying, presuming that he may fail. In some other cases one may feel that he/she is unlucky, not talented enough or others are more talented and never try to do anything, picturizing themselves failing on attempting. 

“Fear of Failure” will never let us to do anything, even the simplest of all tasks. Our brain can generate 45000 to 50000 thoughts a day, and if most of them are negative, we will never develop a positive attitude towards anything. This fear will close all the doors of opportunities meant to reach your goals.

Let me give an example of how our brain thinks when we fear something. 

If a person is walking on the ground, he is confident enough to walk steadily without falling. If the same person is asked to walk on a rope in the same way as he walks on the ground, can he? Balancing on the rope without falling is not a physical task, but a mental task. Once he/she gets on to the rope his brain starts thinking about, what if I slip and fall down? Due to this the brain generates negative signals which create fear. 

What can we do to overcome the fear of failure?

The first thing that we need to develop to overcome the fear of failure , is to build a strong self confidence. Believe in your abilities and your strengths. You need to have faith on yourself first. No one in this world will believe you, unless you believe yourself. Self confidence can create great positive thoughts. Even if you don’t have technical knowledge or subject knowledge sometimes your confidence plays a major role in making you achieve or complete the task. As they say, “fortune favors the brave”, holds true in many cases. People who usually have fear of failure, feel unlucky as they never succeed. 

Example: It is human psychology that people try to search for the wall or objects for the support when there is complete darkness in the room. This happens even if we live in the same house for ages and when we are sure of the exact position of the objects. In the presence of light people are free to move here and there. In the absence of light our mind generates a kind of negative signal which causes fear and they search for the objects. People act in such a way not because of the absence of light it is because of fear of falling or hitting an object. 

Likewise there are many such cases where fear dominates our thinking which results in a negative outcome that is failure. Hence it is very important for every human being to create self confidence and to develop a positive attitude to overcome the fear of failure.