4 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Failure

July 15, 2013 by Paulo Coelho

by Grace Gordon, Huffington Post
1. cce!t that failure is a reality.
Lets be real here. No matter how much you learn and move forward from a failure in life, the
fact of the matter is that failure does happen even to the best of us. But you know what?
Who cares !ve personally found that as soon as you accept failure as a reality, it wont be
this bi", fri"htenin" thin" that you once thou"ht it was. #oud be surprised at how much
freedom that "ives you to move forward, try new thin"s, and e$perience successes you mi"ht
not have otherwise.
2."emember !ast failures.
No really think about the last failure you had in life. %id your world come crashin" down
around you? &ven if it did 'it has for me(, chances are youve moved on, "otten past it, and
have become stron"er and wiser because of it. )o the ne$t time you find yourself not takin" a
certain chance or bein" crippled by the fear of failure, remember that youve overcome failure
before*and you will a"ain.
3.#iste$ to other !eo!le%s stories.
)omethin" that has always encoura"ed me when it comes to takin" risks despite the threat of
failure is learnin" the stories of people who have achieved "reat thin"s, or at least have "one
throu"h similar situations. )ome of the bi""est innovators and most successful people will
admit to havin" "one throu"h multiple failures before arrivin" to where they are now. +he
reason why brin"s me to my last point*
4.#ear$, reflect, a$& lear$ some more.
#ou can study and memori,e facts all day lon", but theres nothin" that compares to the
learnin" that comes from personal e$perience. Like ! said before, failure is -ust a part of life
the key is how you deal with it. Not only is overcomin" failure a hu"e step in buildin"
character, but reflectin" on how and why the failure took place is what will set you up for
success movin" forwar