The fear of making a mistake has left some afraid to take chances on the job. The problem is that a certain amount of risk is necessary for growth and positive change. If you’re surrounded by a bubble of fear, you will never get outside your comfort zone.
Like a child afraid to take the training wheels off a bicycle, this anxiety has people considering a mistake to be anything that does not result in immediate success.
If you think that definition is true, walk up to the nearest light switch and turn off the lights.
While the cited number of attempts tends to vary, we do know that Thomas Edison failed many, many times in pursuit of creating the first commercially practical incandescent light. History celebrates him for the one time that he got it right.
The path to innovation requires a certain amount of failure. To Clear the Path of the fear of failure, consider these tips for changing your mindset:
Getting It Wrong vs. A Mistake
Mistakes usually involve some sort of neglect. You forgot to proofread your work, you didn’t write down the directions, or you couldn’t add the figures correctly.
Getting something wrong doesn’t mean that you made a mistake. Often it’s about being the victim of an uncontrollable outcome. For example, your competition gets the bid on a new project due to family ties on the selection committee, a bad season of weather hurts ticket sales at an amusement park, or your biggest client is bought by another company that no longer needs your services.
In these examples, you can do everything to the best of your ability and fail. While this is getting it wrong, it’s not because you made a mistake.
Adversity is a Good Teacher
You wouldn’t think it would be the case but I’ve found that you learn more when things go wrong. Failure is a great motivator and can help define your shortcomings.
It’s only failure if you don’t learn from the experience. When you succeed, it can be easy to think that there’s nothing more for you to learn.
Celebrate Exceeding Your Reach
Have you ever thought that there was no way to solve a problem but once you told someone about it, a solution suddenly appeared?
The lesson here is that challenges love to hide in a place of fear. Have the courage to tell people what you experienced and get their advice on how you can improve.
Very often, we think that people will mock us for our failures but that’s not the case. By asking for help, you’re giving someone a chance to be a hero. Why not take advantage of experience or an outside perspective?
Bottom Line: Success is rarely immediate or spontaneously produced. Embrace the challenge of getting things right the next time.
