Fear & Failure

"Don't let the fear of failure stop you; the world needs your greatness." - Emmanuel Apetsi

Let's talk about the most prevalent four letter "F" word in our lives. Take it easy, I'm talking about FEAR. We all give fear much more credit than it deserves.  I know I have done it far too often.  Because we live our whole lives with it and are forced to do battle with it every day. But we have to realize that we are the ones relinquishing that power. We give it the power over us to make us unhappy; to hold us back from success; to keep us from getting that promotion we deserve; keeping us from living the life we deserve.  

I mean, I know we need to acknowledge that fear exists, but also that it only exists in our minds. It does have its purpose. We need it so that we are cautious enough that we aren't putting ourselves in harm's way, and we remain observant to our own personal needs, health and safety. But we need to be the one to stay in control and not let fear control us.  We need to make that crystal clear in our minds. We are in control. Dale Carnegie said it best "You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind."

Instead, we need to learn from it, learn to master it and resist letting it rule over our lives. We need to realize that nothing truly should be feared, it only needs to be better understood. We can use fear to our advantage by using it as fuel, and letting it motivate us to make better decisions and to take positive actions. Each time we face our fears, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing. Don't let fear hold you back from achieving your goals and dreams! Not everything that is faced can be changed, accomplished or achieved, but nothing can be changed, accomplished or achieved until it is faced. Feel the fear and take action anyway. The biggest mistake we can make is living in constant fear that we will make one.  

This leads me to the second dominating "F" word in our lives…FAILURE.  I'm convinced this is another one that exists only in our minds, just like fear.  We equate failure with not-succeeding the first, second or third time we attempt it. I believe that it should only be considered true failure if we actually stop trying; if we don't change our direction and course-correct; or if we absolutely do give up and give in to it.  Then it wins.  Then it is failure. 

Here's another one we need to tweak in our minds.  We can absolutely learn from it and use it to fuel us to keep moving forward. It has been said that we learn more from failure than we do from success.  Failing to succeed at something builds character.  We shouldn't let it stop us from trying.  Failure should be looked at as  a bend in the road, not the end of the road.

Thomas Edison, considered one of the most prolific inventors in America, ever, for his influence in modern life, contributing inventions such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and the telephone. He said "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

Thomas Edison became one of the greatest inventors in history because of his incredible desire to succeed. He was famous for never giving up. But I also believe that it was due to his unbelievable attitude and mindset towards failure. He had this idea of what a light bulb should be, and how it should work. But he had tried time and time again to get it to work the way he meant it to. When asked about the many thousands of failures he had when trying to create the light bulb, he famously responded "I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work".  In 1914 Thomas Edison's factory burned to the ground destroying one-of-a-kind prototypes causing $23 million in damage.  Edison's response was simple: "Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up.  Now we can start fresh again." He could have easily given up in these situations, but didn't quit.

And we must not either. We were not made to quit, we were made to overcome. We come from the greatest overcomer that ever lived. The problem with most people is they don't understand what they are going through. They only view things from the surface of their current feeling. They don't see the purpose behind the pain or the obstacle. The most difficult thing to do in life  is to experience something and not know how to understand it or interrupt it. What you are going through wasn't designed to make you quit, it was designed to give you what you need in order to reach the next level in your life. Reach down inside of you today and take back what's yours. Life is yours and everything in it was meant to be experienced and to be lived. Stop holding yourself back. There is nothing more awe inspiring and scary than looking into the eyes of someone who refuses to quit.

Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength. Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they've got a second. Give your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up. Believe and achieve! Live the life you deserve! 

Make today great!

Curtis

"There is no illusion greater than fear." - Lao Tzu