I was 29 years old, working a job but dreaming of the day I would have a career. It wasn’t just any career that I was dreaming about, I knew what I wanted to do. At this point in my life I had been going to school on and off for about 9 years to work in sports. I seemed to consistently gain momentum and then, BAM, something would always seem to get in the way. Then finally one day it hit me; I was the problem. My actions would always sabotage any momentum I made because I was afraid to fail!
I wish I could have seen the look on my face when this epiphany struck me because in my head my face went from a Grinch smile to immediate horror. The person that was supposed to be my biggest advocate (me) was subconsciously messing everything up!
Ok, so now that I found the culprit, my next job was to figure out why? Long story short, I was afraid to put myself in a vulnerable position and possibly fail. “Can’t fail if you don’t try,” was my motto apparently. This was a losing mentality but made perfect sense once I put it into perspective. Who wants to feel inadequate and vulnerable? Not this guy!
How was I able to get over this? I came to the realization that I must get comfortable being uncomfortable. Once I did this, the more comfortable it became. The fear of failure never goes away but the reward to risk ratio is much better when you’re cool with taking micro losses for eventual macro gains.
As I continue to navigate through my career, I have learned to classify experiences into two categories; successes or learning moments. I have been going 100 miles per hour for the last 8 years. The best part about it is that I have messed up a ton, learned even more and have not been paralyzed by the fear to fail!
George Addair is quoted as saying, “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” Now go out there; hurry up and fail!