Do you want to know how to overcome the fear of failure and rejection?
Are you afraid of facing the rejection and humiliation that accompanies failure?
If you’re struggling with the fear of failure and rejection either in business, work, and life generally, you should know that you’re not alone.
Everyone has their specific fears.
There’s that one thing everyone dreads experiencing or encountering in every aspect of life.
For some, it is the fear of people (anthropophobia).
For others, it is the fear of heights and other specific fears.
Bottom line, being afraid isn’t that bad after all.
It is your reaction towards your fears that matters the most.
In this article, you’ll discover effective tips on how to overcome your fear of failure and rejection, especially as a business owner.
How To Overcome Fear Of Failure And Rejection
Experiencing failure and rejection is a sad but inevitable part of life experiences.
This is true, especially in the business and professional world.
In business, not all your business plans fall into place.
Things could go south unexpectedly.
When this happens, you experience damaging loss and setbacks that most of the time lead to business failure.
Even more, there are times when you experience rejection in business.
For instance, your pitch or proposal for a business deal gets rejected by potential investors.
This can leave you feeling devastated and humiliated.
Likewise, in your personal life, you could experience failure at achieving set goals.
You could also face rejection from friends, loved ones, and sometimes strangers.
Now, you see that failure is an inevitable part of life.
Sadly, enough most people deal with their fear of failure and rejection in the wrong way.
They decide not to take action on their plans and goals so as not to risk facing failure and rejection.
Unfortunately, this way, their fear of failure is keeping them stuck from achieving true success and fulfillment.
Hence, the need to know the best ways to deal with the fear of failure and rejection.
This is so it doesn’t keep you stuck and stop you from achieving your goals either in business or life generally.
Before then let’s consider the following points;
- Understanding the fear of failure and rejection
- Effects of Atychiphobia
- Causes of fear of failure and rejection
- Signs that show you have the fear of failure and humiliation
Understanding The Fear Of Failure And Rejection
The fear of failure is also known as Atychiphobia.
Atychiphobia is an extreme case of fear of failure that is characterized by the inability to take important decisions to act on goals that are not guaranteed to succeed.
Having doubts about the likelihood of achieving success in your set goals is part of human nature.
This is the natural human instinct that helps humans apply caution in whatever they do.
Hence, making the fear of failure and rejection an essential part of human experiences.
However, paying attention to your fears and allowing them to hold you back from can hinder your progress in so many ways.
Let’s consider the negative effects of fear of failure and rejection.
Effects Of Atychiphobia
There are so many ways the fear of failure and rejection affects you in business, work, and personal life.
They include;
- It prevents you from taking bold steps towards growth and progress in every area of life.
- The fear of failure ruins your self-esteem and confidence.
- It stops you from taking risks which is an essential part of business and career success.
- It affects your productivity and efficiency as an individual.
- Also, the fear of failure and rejection causes anxiety thereby affecting your mental and physical health.
- It dampens your creative and innovative abilities as an individual.
Overall, the fear of failure and rejection stop you from achieving your fullest potential either in business, work, or personal life.
Now, let’s examine some of the causes of the fear of failure and rejection in most people.
Causes Of The Fear Of Failure And Rejection
Some of the factors that lead to the fear and failure in most people include.
- Past experiences with hurtful negative consequences such as previous failures that lead to humiliation or loss of something important.
- Bad childhood experience with unsupportive and excessively critical parents, teacher, or relatives
- Perfectionist syndrome
- Oversensitive nature
Chances are, you can’t tell the difference between the good fear and the bad fear.
The good fear is that kind of fear that’s triggered by survival instincts.
This kind of fear keeps you safe from physical harm or danger.
On the other hand, bad fear is that kind of fear that keeps you stuck and hinder your progress.
An example of such fears is the fear of failure and rejection.
Here are some of the signs that show that you’re struggling with the fear of failure and rejection.
Signs Of The Fear Of Failure And Rejection
These are some of the characteristics or traits of people who struggle with the fear of failure and rejection.
- People-pleasing
- Avoiding confrontation or challenging situations
- Procrastination
- Find it difficult to say no even at the detriment of their happiness
- Passive-aggressive nature
- Living life according to people’s standards
- Lack of confidence and self-belief
Overall, people who struggle with the fear of failure and rejection are reluctant to take risks and set new standards for themselves.
They love to stay in their comfort zones and play by the rules.
In a way they feel doing so would guarantee them safety from the consequences of failing.
Now you fully understand what the fear of failure is all about.
It’s time to discover how to overcome the fear of failure.
Tips On How To Overcome The Fear OF Failure
These are not tips that would eradicate fear from your life as an individual.
Rather these are tips that can help you reframe your thoughts and take action despite your fears.
Thus helping you overcome your fears that might be keeping you stuck.
Also, remember that courage isn’t the absence of fear but the ability to face your fears.
Hence, these are tips on how to build courage and overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Acknowledge Your Fears
The effective step to take to solve any problem is to acknowledge the existence of a problem.
Only then can you be willing to take the right measures to solve the problem.
Hence, to solve the problem of fear of failure and rejection you have to accept the fact that fear is a major problem in your life.
Everyone likes to think of themselves as confident and sometimes flawless individuals.
This is a result of ego which is something everyone has to a certain level.
However, refusing to face facts and acknowledge the reality of your problems would make it difficult for you to solve those problems.
So, to acknowledge your fears;
- think of all those moments in your life where you refused to act on something because you were unsure if you’ll succeed or not.
- also, think of those times when you avoided a situation so as not to face shame or disappoint people who had high expectations from you.
By taking a trip down memory lane and being honest to yourself, you’ll quickly realize your specific fears.
You’ll also discover how much it has hindered you from making progress either as a business owner, or a regular individual.
Thereby, helping you take active steps to overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Identify The Source(s) Of Fear
Another effective step to take to solving a problem is to identify the source of fear.
These could be external and internal factors that are giving rise to the problem.
The source of your fear may be linked to your bitter childhood experiences or past events where you were humiliated.
Whatever the cause of your fear is it’s best to identify it.
This way you can understand where your problems are coming from and how best to tackle them.
Consequently, making it easy for you to overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Stop Your Perfectionist Trait
One other way you can overcome your fear of failure and rejection is to avoid perfectionism.
Perfectionism is the abnormal or excessive desire to do everything the right way.
This is done with the motive of avoiding criticisms or performing below expected standards.
Perfectionists find it difficult to partake in activities that not guaranteed to succeed.
Even more, they set unrealistic expectations for themselves.
For instance, they won’t act on their business plans unless it guarantees 100% success.
This is because they are scared of experiencing failure and the rejection that comes with it.
Hence, they would rather not take action at all than act and perform below expectations.
If you have this mindset, then you need to break it.
Stop your perfectionist habit and be comfortable with taking little bold steps towards your goals.
Rather than chase perfection, chase progress.
Thus, helping you take action and overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Practice Positive Thinking
This is another important tip that can help you overcome your fear of failure and rejection to keep in mind.
Negative thoughts fuel fears.
The more negative thoughts you have about a particular situation, the more fearful you become.
Hence, you should practice positive thinking.
With a positive mindset, you’ll be able to see the silver lining in every situation you encounter.
Furthermore, you’ll be able to find a new and positive definition of failure.
You’ll also be able to stop negative thoughts.
Thereby getting rid of self-doubt and excessive worrying about the possibility of your plans succeeding.
Overall positive thinking lessens your anxiety about failure and the rejection that comes with it.
Thus helping you adopt a rational and positive approach towards your goals.
Consequently, helping you overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Set Better Goals
Another important tip about overcoming your fear of failure and rejection is to change your goal setting plan.
One of the reasons you might be experiencing countless episodes of failure life is because you’re setting the wrong goals.
Due to this, you’re afraid to try again so that you don’t experience more failures and rejections.
To stop this fear of failure and rejection from hindering your progress you need to set better goals.
The right way to set effective goals is to set goals that are;
- Smart
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Time-bound
By setting effective goals, you can confidently take action knowing that you have an effective roadmap (your goals) to guide you every step of the way.
Consequently, helping you overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Reframe Your Definition Of Failure (Treat Failures As Feedback)
Most times people have the wrong definition of failure.
They see failure as a definition of their limitations and capabilities.
Hence, they are reluctant to take risks and try out their abilities in challenging situations.
To overcome your fear of failure and rejection, you need to reframe your thoughts about failure.
Rather than think of failure that way, see failure as feedback.
This kind of thinking requires you to think of failures as learning opportunities.
See failures as learning opportunities that can teach you valuable lessons that’ll help you improve yourself.
Thus helping you take on challenging situations with a mindset of learning from your mistakes and handling failure positively.
Develop Thick Skin (See Failures And Rejection As An Inevitable Part Of Life)
Another thing you could do to become less anxious about failure and rejection is to develop a thick skin.
One of the major causes of the fear of failure and rejection is oversensitivity.
Oversensitivity means to easily bothered about situations.
In more simple terms, it is being unnecessarily anxious over issues.
Most people are too bothered, thinking about what people would say should they fail.
They are anxious about performing below certain expectations or standards of other people.
Furthermore, they do not want to disappoint people who hold them in high esteem.
Hence, they avoid taking action on certain things.
This is so to avoid experiencing failure and the rejection that comes with it.
You’ll need to develop thick skin towards this kind of sensitivity.
It is good to want to meet and exceed the high expectations certain people have of you.
However, this could be bad if it stops you from taking active steps towards progress in your life
Learn to accept failure and rejection as a necessary part of life.
By so doing, you’ll become less bothered about what people think of you.
Thus helping you become less anxious about failure and rejection.
Examine The Worst-Case Scenario
Sometimes the reason most people struggle with the fear of failure and rejection is that they give too much power to situations.
They have an ambiguous image of how things would turn out negatively for them.
Due to this, they feel skeptical about taking action on their set goals.
It true that sometimes, things turn out badly as expected or even worse.
This doesn’t mean things would always be that way.
However, even if things turn out to be disastrous that doesn’t necessarily have to be the end of the world for you.
Businesses fail and shut down completely, people lose their jobs and run out of finances.
Nevertheless, people make big comebacks from adversity.
So, chances are that your fears might come true and you’ll fail.
However, what’s the worst that could happen?
Even more, the worst-case scenarios don’t mean the end of the world.
Analyze, the potential outcome, and imagine the worst-case scenario.
- Is it something that would be unbearable for you?
- Or is it something you can easily recover from?
- What if you succeed?
Examining the worst-case scenario in the grand scheme of things can help you build confidence.
Consequently, helping you overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself
This is the last tip for you on how to overcome the fear of failure and rejection.
Sometimes the reason for the fear of failure and rejection is because of self-criticism.
You’re too critical of yourself and your abilities probably because of past failures or mistakes.
Due to past failures and mistakes, you hold a certain negative image of yourself.
You’ve tagged yourself to be a sore loser, a good for nothing, and someone incapable of achieving success.
Due to these self-sabotaging thoughts, you feel incompetent in achieving success again.
As such, you start to struggle with the fear of failure and rejection.
Just because you failed in the past doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to fail all the time.
Hence, stop being too hard on yourself and let go of past negative experiences.
Consequently, helping work on your goals without the fear of failure and rejection.
Final Words On How To Overcome The Fear Of Failure And Rejection
That’s it on how to overcome the fear of failure and rejection.
It doesn’t matter what the reasons for your fears might be.
Letting your fears overcome you can hinder progress in your business, work, and personal life.
So, use these tips today to overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
This is so you can take action on your goals and achieve success in whatever you do.
Here’s to a better you!
Before you go, in what ways has your fear of failure and rejection affected you?
Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
We would love to hear from you.
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