How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure in Business

It’s not failure that holds us back but more often it’s the fear of failure that holds us back, especially as an aspiring entrepreneur.  As humans, we’re innately conditioned to fear failure especially when high expectations have been placed upon us at a young age and we then have high expectations for ourselves as a result.  A lack of failure is equivalent to a lack of risk-taking.  While it might be a very difficult challenge, you should never fear failure in business because it is guaranteed to happen at one point or another and if you do, then it will indeed hold you back from taking risks and if you don’t take risks, then you can’t achieve your dreams.  Many aspiring entrepreneurs struggle to overcome the fear of failure before they even start their own businesses probably because of the scary statistics that somewhere in the range of nine out of every ten new businesses fail within the first three years of inception. The reasons for these so-called “failures” are many, but the fear of failure alone should never be enough to stop an aspiring entrepreneur from starting their own business.  It is perfectly natural to occasionally have feelings of uncertainty about what you’re getting yourself into as a startup entrepreneur, but it can be dangerous to hold onto those feelings.  If you hold onto that fear of failure for too long, it can overtake you and make the thing that you are afraid of become your reality.  So how to overcome the fear of failure in business?

First off, redefine what it means to fail.  Failure doesn’t always have to be viewed as a negative thing.  Often, it’s beneficial to turn it into a positive thing and learn from it.  One of the many reasons aspiring entrepreneurs allow the fear of failure to derail them from starting their own businesses is because they view failure as solely a negative.  Interestingly enough, most successful entrepreneurs have had careers riddled with failures before they succeeded.  Remember, failure is not the opposite of success.  Rather, it is a part of success.  Think of failure as feedback.  Failure is merely nothing more than a result of getting what you don’t want.  It’s neither good nor bad.  Look at failure as a way to learn lessons and use those lessons to help you try again in a different way which can lead to success.

Stop comparing yourself to others.  In order to be successful in business, you must hold onto the things that make you unique as an individual.  It’s unwise to compare yourself to others simply because you are not them and you shouldn’t try to be like them either.  Just be yourself and success will follow.  Have confidence in your own abilities and stand out from the crowd.  While you should always try to learn from experts in any industry, try to steer clear of comparing yourself to them.  While you should admire the success of others, just because you might not be where they are yet, don’t envy them.  Recognize that they too have likely gone through failure but have learned to overcome it.  Respect the results that other entrepreneurs are able to create, but focus your attention on the results that you want to create.

Don’t give up; rather, keep going.  The best way to overcome your fear of failure in business is to take action in spite of fear.  When doubts or other negative thoughts fill your mind, don’t let them consume you.  Release them and focus on the positives and your innate capabilities and competencies.  Always stay focused on taking action.  Remember, fear is a common feeling when you’re trying new things because you leave your comfort zone and enter the unknown but instead of retreating back into familiar territory, embrace what lies ahead even if you are unsure of what that is.  By facing your fears and taking action, you expand your comfort zone and eventually, you will find that new experiences begin to feel familiar and your fear will subside.  Always use fear as a motivator.  That is how any entrepreneur becomes successful.

Instead of focusing on your problems, find solutions to them.  The goal of most businesses is to solve problems in the marketplace and give consumers what they’re not already receiving from someone else.  That said, it makes sense that as an entrepreneur you must learn to embrace problems too if you are ever going to learn how to fix them.  Learn to think of problems as an opportunity to create a solution not as something that you will not be able to overcome.

Start small.  One of the best ways to overcome your fear of failure is to start by focusing on the little things and build momentum that way.  “Go big or go home” is not the best motto for an entrepreneur.  This leaves you with only two options: taking massive action or taking no action at all.  It is particularly wise as an entrepreneur to begin with smaller goals and then build upon those successes.  Remember, success breeds success so if you can overcome and meet small challenges, you can slowly start to build up confidence and learn to rid yourself of your fear of failure.  By consistently achieving positive results on a smaller scale, you build momentum. That momentum is what will help to create the larger successes later.

Lastly and most importantly, always stay positive.  An entrepreneur should always maintain a positive attitude or at least project one to the outside world regardless of whether or not you are having doubts.  “As a leader of an organization and as the visionary for the future of your business, you must remain focused on the possibilities of the future and not so much the challenges of the present.”  If you learn to expect setbacks and obstacles, then you’ll learn that overcoming them is way to succeed.  Always lean on your positive attitude to look for the hidden opportunity within that reality.

So how have you overcome your fear of failure in business?  Have you used some of the suggestions mentioned here today or have you found your own route to overcoming fear?  What are the key elements that helped you succeed by embracing failure?  Leave a comment and let’s start a conversation.  Your feedback is always welcome!

Here are some are some articles you might want to check out about overcoming your fear of failure in business:

“How to Overcome the Fear of Entrepreneurial Failure”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sramana-mitra/how-do-you-overcome-the-f_b_4037799.html

“Five Ways to Erase Your Fear in Business”: http://www.synnovatia.com/business-coaching-blog/bid/145024/Five-on-Friday-Five-Ways-to-Erase-Your-Fear-in-Business

“How to Overcome the Fear of Failure in Business”: http://www.cornerstoneadvisoryservices.com/blog/how-overcome-fear-failure-business

“5 Ways to Conquer Your Fear of Failure”: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glassheel/2013/04/23/5-ways-to-conquer-your-fear-of-failure/

Until next time…