Overcome Fear of Failure and Take Action

Famed UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, who won an obscene number of NCAA games and championships, knew how to overcome fear of failure.  He once said that "We cannot let what we can’t do stop us from doing what we CAN do".  The truth is that it’s better to do something, do ANYTHING, rather than just sit around planning what might work, talking about what might or might not happen, conjecturing how to do this or when to do that.

The temptation to procrastinate catches hold of us all from time to time.  Even successful, motivated, ambitious, "make it happen" people fall victim to this trick of the subconscious mind that you can hear whispering in your ear "not yet…not quite…almost…wait for it…".  Even you, even me.   Again and again this holds us back from moving forward and taking action.  The truth is that it’s better to do something, anything, rather than sit around planning what might happen— or worse yet worrying.

Easier said than done, I hear you thinking.  It’s not always easy to do it, but it IS simple.  How is that?  Anytime you think "I can’t do it", then you simply tell yourself that "You must begin now" – and master yourself to follow through on this new thought pattern by developing the habit of taking action.  If I can’t, then I MUST.

This idea "If I can’t, then I MUST" isn’t original to me by any stretch. It’s probably not even original to where I heard it from. Likely as not this phenomenon has a long history of retelling for one reason…it flat-out works like nothing else to get you moving when you’re frozen.

Think about it. When was the very last time you accomplished something you weren’t sure going in that you could do? I mean, really got the job done. How did you feel? How did you see yourself? As energized, confident, and empowered— now, that’s my bet.  Did you want to do more?

Action builds momentum. It feeds itself until it hums along unconscious of conscious thought.  On the flip side of the coin, you can’t build momentum if you don’t take a step, move forward, and take that leap of faith.   In fact, the longer we hold off, often the more entrenched we will get in the world of thinking and the harder it will be to enter the world of doing and to overcome fear of failure.

The real key is recognizing these weak thought-patterns within us. And setting out to systematically DESTROY them.  How do we do that?  The key here is realizing that movement from rest expends the most energy.  After that, you build momentum. Movement becomes easier to sustain than start.  Momentum will get you to your goals— quick, fast, and in a hurry.  So why wait to take that first step when after you do it becomes so much easier?