Action. Fear of Failure

Last modified on 2008-08-05 05:02:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

In the last Action article I was questioning whether actions really worthy of the importance that we usually place on them. I think I made it clear that actions are still important, but to clarify I don’t want to give the impression that I believe that success is down to not taking any action.

That is a crazy, insane idea and not one I recommend to put into practice. I have, I am embarrassed to say tried to apply that methodology before and all I can really confirm is that, whilst it is nice and easy and relaxing just waiting for things to happen for you it is also the most de spiriting and moral crushing practices to undertake if you do it for long enough. It really is boring to be on vacation forever.

This action series of articles is going to end up pretty short really because after this article I want to move onto self discipline because I believe that term sends so many people running for the hills with images of self-punishment and grueling discomfort that has to be endured day in, day out.

Back to ACTION!

Often we are hesitant to take action on a particular project or to further our progress towards a goal because we don’t know whether this action or that action is the best one to take next. This is an extremely paralyzing force that seem to grip most of us at some point or another, but where does it come from and what’s it all about?

I think I can answer this categorically. It is the FEAR OF FAILURE that stops us dead in our tracks; the reason why many of us don’t execute the next part of our plan until everything is perfect and the stars are all lined up in the right way, ensuring that failure is guaranteed not to happen. Oh dear (and I am talking to myself here too). You can never guarantee zero failure. No matter what, but here’s the big scoop! You can guarantee failure. I promise you that there is a process that will bring failure to your door every time and that is to not take any action. What happens is that you will be safe, comfortable (possibly) the same as before (possibly still frustrated or unfulfilled), but you will not have any experience of any possible triumph by taking a step. Oh you will have avoided any embarrassment of falling flat on your face trying of course, but where have you got to? Nowhere new and one day, normally when it is too late, you will realize the price you paid instead of the price of possibly making a mistake.

This is where action comes in. Apart from stupid, mindless actions the best policy in any situation where you are wanting to make progress is to take any action. It could be really pathetic to be honest, but it is a start. How can you know how cold the water is if you don’t touch it? In fact it may be lovely and warm, but you’d never know if you were too scared to just act! Sometimes a really lame action could be just the thing that opens the door to the inspiration for a really effective, obvious action to be taken in an instant catapulting you several steps along on your path towards your goal.

I am one of the worst examples of this I know. I’m always having ideas about something I can create, a new business idea etc. but I so rarely follow through with many of them I’ll never know if one or more of those ideas could have transformed my life by now. I often find myself in this position where some action is required and I just sit there, rooted to the spot knowing that I really want to move forward and wishing I just had the guts to get put myself out there and feeling really, well s****y to be frank when it all passed and I did nothing about it. I always vow to be different next time then realizing further down the line that there have been several more next times where I repeated the same thing, well nothing actually! I lost count of the number of girlfriends I could have had when I was younger, but the fear of hearing "No" was enough to stop me trying.

This is all about trusting that there is in fact nothing in life to fear. Any fall, failure, mistake, howling blooper or whatever you want to call it is in fact an opportunity to learn and to encourage that trust to grow in me until it is strong enough to just not care about whether I get it perfect first time or not, I apply the following analogy:

I play guitar and whenever I play live and I hit a wring note, it never really seems to get noticed. The song continues, the band keeps playing behind me and everyone who is enjoying the music continues to enjoy it. If they noticed the wrong note at all they don’t even care about it and I don’t find myself worrying about how awful I must sound or that people must think I’m a terrible guitar player because of it or that nobody will ever want to listen to me play again or….. all the other things that may go through the mind’s incessant chatter when the voice of fear chimes in.

So if I can apply this state of mind i.e. not care when I play a wrong note, to any situation where I need to try something out or take a step then what’s the big deal?

I hope that analogy resonates with others too because I would love to think that somebody who read this article felt the courage they didn’t think they had to take an action that made a difference to their life. I really would love that to happen. Just remember. Nobody even hears the wrong notes.