The fear of inadequacy can often cause us to avoid trying to grow. We can feel that we are not capable of handling the extra workload, and not be able to provide the best experience for our clients. Or it can cause us to avoid taking on paying jobs we have trained for but feel unskilled in. In my balloon business, there is a trend called “Organic design” I have taken a course in it, and have some of the best in the industry giving me tips. It is highly profitable, but I tend to try to talk my clients out of ordering it. Why? You may ask. I feel so inadequate with my skills I am afraid to mess it up, the fear of failure seems to be underlining it.
As for the fear of change, I have most often seen and experienced it appearing as landing in a comfort zone. When things are working well enough you do not want to make any changes. Making changes can cause things to go better or worse, and the fear of them getting worse is what holds you back. Again the fear of failure is part of this. Now it could be just me, but the fear of failure is the biggest fear that holds us back. Not only can it underline other fears, but it can be paralyzing in and of itself, just as staring off that cliff was for me. It can cause you never to make the jump into entrepreneurship. I know many people who have great talent and skills that could make the jump but never do. It is perfectly summed up by the following quote.
“If you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time.”-Zig Ziglar
This fear can keep you from expanding your business, taking on larger clients, and trying new marketing methods. Or even, as noted, cause you to get stuck in a comfort zone, or doubt yourself.So now comes the question. How do you overcome paralyzing fear?
For me, it always helps me to analyze the fear, and quantify it. Often fear is caused by a lack of adequate information. For a simple example, when your child is afraid of the dark, the quickest way to dispell it is to turn on the light so that they can see there are no monsters. Gathering data can often shine lights on problems making them less frightening, or at least manageable.
Then, of course, there is the age-old solution of facing your fears. Acknowledge that you are afraid, and do it anyway. You may not conquer your fear the first time out, but each time you tackle your fear and succeed you start to build up confidence. When you are full of confidence you will not have room for fear. When I first started doing decore I was scared out of my mind when I landed my first big client. Now I regularly handle large orders from big clients and I do not think twice about it. I know that I can do it, I have confidence in my skills, and so I am no longer afraid.
As for the fear of failure. You need to understand that failing is normal. If you are not doing anything you will never fail. If you are failing that means you are actually doing something. There are many wealthy people who have had early businesses fail and or go bankrupt. But they got up, dusted themselves off and never gave up. They took their failure as a learning experience, grew from it, and went on to become wildly successful. I will end with this;
