How My Fear of Failure Led to Public Humiliation as a 14-Year Old High School Kid (Video)
What do you know about the FEAR OF FAILURE? Oh, you don’t know the fear of failure like I know the fear of failure. LOL! Maybe we should have a ...
What do you know about the FEAR OF FAILURE?
Oh, you don’t know the fear of failure like I know the fear of failure. LOL!
Maybe we should have a fear of failure contest, to see who has been beaten by the fear of failure the most times, over the years.
I’ve had my bouts with it, to be sure.
But a friend mentioned on Twitter just the other day:
“YOU GROW THROUGH WHAT YOU GO THROUGH.”
I love that quote. It’s a reminder that, brushes with failure need not create a burden of shame on our shoulders.
Chalk it up to experience.
Learn from it.
Gather comfort in the fact that EVERYONE deals with this dear, close friend called “the fear of failure”.
I recorded a video about it for you… in which I talk about one of my most personally memorable failures.
What’s your take on it ?
What are some memorable cases where the fear of failure has beaten you back?
How have you overcome it?
Thanks for sharing.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Bolaji O, known as "The Nocrastinator", is an expert in goal getting for digital entrepreneurs.
9 Responses to this article
The drama….the intrigue…
Nice video, Bolaji O!
Shae´s last [type] ..Why You Absolutely Must Have Reserves To Buy & Hold Property
Ha ha … just trying to be like you when I grow up, Shae.
I know you’ve never been hit with the panic attacks that the fear of failure is notorious for.
Hi Bolaji,
This is one great video. Congratulations not only on the courage to bare your soul but also on the quality of your production.
Fear of Failure. Did I ever suffer from this? Did it ever stop me from reaching my goal.
No. I had another fear that prevented me, extremely effectively, from reaching the top quite a number of times: Fear of Success. The fear of sticking out, of lifting my head above the parapet and getting shot down. It’s equally paralysing and more pernicious as you may not even be aware of what’s stopping you.
At about the age of 11 or 12 I enacted this by falling from 4 ft. or so on to my back during gym. As a result of my spine twisting (which I didn’t discover for another 20 years) I could never get enough breath when running. Now that put me out of a few races
.
Perhaps I ought to do a video on the Fear of Success…
Best of luck with your sprint to the IM finishing line.
Max
Max´s last [type] ..How To Add The WOW Factor To Your Ebook
Wow – Thanks for your comment, Max.
And thanks for sharing that story. Twisted spine at age 11? OUCH!
I’m glad you brought up the Fear of Success. While Fear of Failure prevents people from taking action, Fear of Success plagues those who’ve taken action, and are 3 feet from gold. They think, fret, and worry about everything that could go wrong at that point, and… as a result something often does. And as soon as something goes wrong, the tenacity that got them almost to the mountaintop, evaporates.
I think I’ll have to do another video!
Thanks again, Max. I’m enjoying your blog, too.
Yeah, my fear has held me back many many times. I was proud of a job I had and the career progression about 10 years ago. I’d taken on far too much to manage, accepting responsibility out of fear that I would be rejected if I didn’t. Even when I said I had too much on my plate, it was too late. I was ignored. When I started to make serious mistakes due to overwork I got hit big time. That created another fear of losing what I had. Ultimately, that did happen.
With some help from family, I negotiated redundancy rather than getting fired.
Out of anger, I tried a couple of years later to go it alone and run my own business. It was the wrong motivation. I failed, then having nobody to blame. That was the worst time in my life.
Since then, I learned a lot. I still have a bit of that fear but I working through it and won’t be so rash this time around.
Great story, Thanks.
Marty,
Thanks a lot for sharing that very real and vivid tale.
Man, have I been there!
Taking on too much to manage…
Accepting responsibility out of fear that I’d be rejected…
Mistakes due to overwork…
Ultimately losing my job, despite massive dedication, massive hours put in, and massive caring for the customer…
All very familiar.
I suspect that you and I are not the only ones that have suffered that fate, either.
Your sharing that very personal story means a lot. It will help so many people. Thanks very much for that, Marty.
The secret that we all try so hard to protect, is that we all face fear and insecurity every day. But pretend like we don’t. LOL!
Here’s to the rest of us, like you, being brave enough to admit that we have fears.
It makes them a little easier to face, and vanquish.
Thanks again, Marty.
– Bolaji.
Bolaji O´s last [type] ..Limerick- The Sunflower & The Venus Flytrap
As you do so well Bolaji, you have beautifully illustrated the underlying obstacle that so many face. I particularly loved your point that you lost before the race even began as a result of where your mind was. So true of so many – this is brilliant and a message so well stated.
Stephanie
Heeey, Stephanie!
Thanks for commenting! And I’m glad the story resonated with you. I remember hearing the late Jim Rohn say once, that he was tired of people clamoring to hear success stories.
He went on: “Give me a day with a guy who’s failed more than anyone else. Let me write down everything he did. And then not do those things!”
Roughly paraphrasing.
Anyway – it’s always revealing to hear about someone else’s failures. Particularly when there’s no happy ending. Because those are the experiences that seem to speak to areas in which we need help the most.
Here’s to mining gold from our failures!
Bolaji O´s last [type] ..A Best Friend Called Procrastination
Hi Bolazi,
Fear of Failure, Yes. A rookie pilot in a Fighter Aircraft on his first solo flight, flying at 40,000 feet goes into a forced tail spin seeing the Earth hurtling towards him and in a few seconds to annihilation, he sees his whole life flashing by but at the last gasp he manges to regain control. Fear, yes that rookie pilot was me. We shall overcome one day. We conquer our fears one day.