Nobody likes to fail. But overcoming fear and overcoming failure are definitely possible and within the grasp of those who truly want it.
So, do you want it? Do you want to know the recipe for overcoming fear and overcoming failure?
The Process of Overcoming Fear
I’m not an expert on fear, necessarily, but I am—like so many of you—an expert on failure. We all fail from time to time. But life is filled with up’s and down’s, curveballs thrown at our heads, and hurdles tossed at our feet. You need to learn to duck and jump when the time is right.
Don’t stay defeated! Failure doesn’t need to be “final.” It may be nothing more than a “wait and see” moment or a sign that you need to tweak a thing or two in order to experience the success you want out of life.
There is a BIG difference between failing and that of being a failure.
Note: You may have failed at a thing or two in life, but you’re not a failure. No, you are not. I know that to be the case because you were created in the image of God and God didn’t make failures in His own image.
So stop moping, feeling depressed, or crying over spilled milk. Pick yourself up and start over. Begin afresh!
Do not allow fear to maintain a strangle-hold on you. There are proven ways for overcoming fear and overcoming failure. It doesn’t need to be the mark of your life.
Tips for Overcoming Fear & Overcoming Failure
1. Understand that there is a major difference between average people and achieving people. Average people wallow in the mire of failed attempts, but achieving people look at a moment of failure as another stepping stone toward success. Remember that God is the God of second chances.
2. Learn a new definition of failure. To have failed doesn’t mean you’re a failure. No reason to fear that. Failure doesn’t mean you’re a failure; it merely means you need to start over—wherever you’re currently at—and do better job the next time.
3. Delete the “you” from your failure. Again, it’s not about you. Or is it? If you think it is, then change that. Work on your personal growth. Find a mentor and get your act together by scheduling your life properly. But remember, the failure is not you. The failure is in the system you relied on for a period of time.
4. Take deliberate action and squash your fear. Overcoming fear is a natural phenomenon. People do it every single day. You can too, but you must act. Act swiftly, act responsibly, and act now. Ask someone you trust for wise counsel and put it into practice. I don’t remember who it was, but someone wiser than myself once said,
To do the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result, is the very definition of insanity.”
5. Change your attitude about failure by accepting responsibility. If it was your fault, own up to it. I don’t like doing that myself. No one does. But we can’t truly move on to greener pastures until we own up to past mistakes. That goes for business, relationships, marriages, parenting, ministry, and……everything else under the sun. Three of the most powerful words on planet Earth are: “I am sorry.”
6. Don’t let external failure get inside you. You aren’t a failure, so don’t let it creep in. Maintain healthy boundaries. Don’t let fears and failures dictate your mood, your emotions, or how you will act and react today. Stand up tall. You’re in charge, so act like it!
7. Say goodbye to yesterday. Forgiveness is potent. It can restore broken relationships and even cause world nations to get along. But the person who may need your forgiveness more than anyone else is the person staring back at you in the mirror. Forgive yourself. It’s over, time to move on. Second chances….remember?
8. Learn from every bad experience. Part of overcoming fear and overcoming failure is to learn from your mistakes. It would be crazy for a scientist to keep performing an experiment a certain way if she knew what the real problem was with the prior experiment. A good scientist would remove or isolate the variable and then run the experiment again. This is also true for those of us who aren’t scientists but, instead, are spouses, mothers, fathers, employees, business owners, and children. Learn, and then live!
9. Avoid and/or work on your weaknesses. Don’t play to your weaknesses. Do what you can to avoid doing tasks that focus on areas of weakness in your life. Instead, play to your strengths. A large part to overcoming fear is to focus on areas where you are strong. As an example…
I used to—and sometimes still do—get really nervous before preaching (public speaking) on Sundays. (And by the way, I’m the pastor!) I kept thinking about my own inadequacies, my frail areas of diction, articulation, uses of illustrations, etc. But then I began to realize that my fear of public speaking was actually little more than festering pride! I was too concerned about what people thought of me, rather than how God will use my words to draw people to Himself. What I then began doing was reminding myself that I knew “the material” (my notes) better than anyone else in the room, and that every person there wanted me to succeed so that they’d learn something. And every time before I stand up to speak, I recite this Bible verse in my head: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).
10. Get up, Get over it, and get going! Yep, that’s correct. The secret to overcoming fear and overcoming failure is to pick yourself up, brush off the dirt, and get back in the saddle. No one else around you is constantly mulling over your moments of failure, so why are you?
Leave a tip or suggestion you know of for overcoming fear or overcoming failure.
hi, Charles, this is Crystal, mutual twitter follower :))) just wanted to say ty for this well written post! it was just @ the right time needed, and i felt compelled to pass it along thru my email to several friends & family members~whatta blessing to read! ty again~blessings in Christ, in ALL ways for the Abundant Living!