3 Question to Overcome the Fear of Failure and Take Action
Most of us from time to time, are slowed by a fear of failure. Some of us simply procrastinate doing something we know we should. Others break into cold sweats ‘just thinking about’ making that call or whatever the action is.
Years ago, I heard the great Zig Ziglar ask “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” It was a great ‘starter’ question to help me stop thinking about how it would feel if I didn’t succeed in what I was about to attempt. I would think “Yeah, what would I do? How big would I play?”
And while initially being helpful (it got me to take action, at least the first time), the problem with that question is that sooner or later we will take action…and get the results. And we find out, we can (and will) still fail. So while that question got us started, it didn’t really solve the problem. (As John Maxwell says, “It helped me, but it didn’t heal me!”)
A much more powerful question is the one John presents in his latest book “Sometime You WIN Sometimes You LEARN”. His question for us is “What would you attempt if you knew that while you may fail, you’d have the opportunity to learn from that failure?” What this question does for us is reframe the situation into a win-win proposition. One of two valuable things happen, or are possible, for us. Either we succeed, or we get better.
The third question, which I use with my coaching clients, is “What would you do if you did not fear?” It’s really an extension of John’s question. Since the outcome of taking action is either success (progress or achievement) or personal growth (we get better), there’s really nothing to fear. Both categories of outcome are positive. Learning and getting better, makes for more future success.
Using these 3 questions may help you ‘do, be and have’ more in your life. You’ll never know until you try!
