Stop fearing failure.
What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Would you work harder at getting in shape? Would you make a call on a potential client that you have been putting off? Would you start the business you have thought about? Would you follow through on the brilliant idea you had yesterday while you were taking a shower?
What keeps people from doing what they really want to do? The answer in one word is fear. Fear that they will fail. The irony of not attempting what is in our heart to attempt because we are afraid we will fail, is that we have guaranteed failure! It may not be failure that is visible to others, but we know that we failed ourselves.
Listen to better voices.
A major reason for this tendency in people is a lack of confidence coupled with listening to the wrong voices. Confidence is the easiest issue to rectify relative to taking a first step. If we prepare for something we will be more confident. If we practice, we will be more confident. Each baby step we take can be a source of confidence.
Dealing with the wrong voices is a bigger issue. Society will tell you that you “can’t” in many different ways. The negativity in the media influences you. The people around you influence you. Your past influences you. But are these the truth? No. These are the interpretations of others. They do not have to be yours.
You can shut these voices out if you choose. The voice you cannot shut out is your own. What are you saying to yourself? Everyone has those two little voices that live on each shoulder. The one that says you can and the one who says you can’t. You can decide which voice to listen to and nurture. The difference in these voices is that one is fed externally whether you like it or not and the other can only be fed by choice.
Can you guess which is which?
If you feed the good voice with positive thoughts and recognition of your gifts and blessings, this voice can grow to be much more powerful than the negative voice.
Talk to yourself positively. Feed the good voice. Tell yourself you can. If something can be done, then you can do it. It probably won’t be easy, especially if it is worthwhile, but it can be done. When things become challenging, and they will, tell yourself that this is part of the growth you must go through, and you will persist. The negative voice is obviously a self-fulfilling prophecy. You tell yourself you can’t, so you don’t. Prophecy fulfilled. You tell yourself you can’t, things get tough so you quit. Prophecy fulfilled.
The good news is that the “I can” voice is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. You tell yourself you can, so you begin. Prophecy fulfilled. Things get challenging, you tell yourself you can, you work through it to the next level of growth. Prophecy fulfilled.
You were not designed to fail. You are blessed uniquely to succeed in the things you are inclined to do. Feed the good voice and do what is in your heart to do.
