Two things we fear a lot:

1. Failing

2. Happiness

I’m making this a two-parter because there's a lot I want to say about both of these fears.

Let's talk about our incessant fear of failing this week and stay tuned next week to learn why it's very common for our minds to keep us from being truly happy and what we have the power to do about it (here it is).

Staying afraid to fail is killing your ideas and dreams before you give them an opportunity to hatch. 

Is that OK with you?

The biggest growth times in my life have come when I did something out of my comfort zone, felt the fear, and continued anyway even if I didn’t do it ‘perfect’ on the first, second, or sometimes even third try. 

Gees, which of the 1,000’s of examples do I want to use? 

OK, take Motivation Monday. It certainly wasn’t comfortable when I decided to go deeper with my writing and to be raw and transparent. My Inner Critic was squawking at me big time!

What if people don’t like what I write?

There are so many better writers out there who have more experience than me

Should I be sharing the real me? Won’t that be unprofessional? Why will people even care to read about my stories?

What if everyone unsubscribes?

Afraid to be judged. Afraid to be shunned. Afraid to fail.

But I did it anyway despite the discomfort and I look back to see the huge growth that transpired because of it!

My delightful and highly appreciated subscribers (that’s you :)) write me on a regular basis telling me they appreciate what I’m doing and that it has a positive impact on their lives. 

“I needed this Motivation Monday more than I am able to express to you.”

“I like your Motivational Monday [manic Monday for me] newsletter… I hardly ever read it on time; but when I do finally read it, there is some little nugget in there I really needed to see.”

“You are amazing and I appreciate your motivation immensely. I read Motivation Monday every week and am always inspired. Thank you for what you do.”

Thank you for taking time to tell me! I appreciate your comments and feedback so very much.

And then I have people who unsubscribe. So, oh well. I can’t please everyone and I certainly don’t have to make up a negative ‘I failed’ story about it. 

However, if 3/4th’s of my subscribers unsubscribed it would be logical and safe to think that I failed to deliver valuable content in which case I would see it as an opportunity to evaluate and course correct. 

Failing to deliver valuable content is very different than thinking I’m a failure and that is one of the top reasons people get tripped up.

You are what you say you are and what you focus on grows so keep your thinking constructive and useful. 

Here are four ways to fail your way to success!

Instead of...

Thinking you’re going to fail

Focus on what will go right and what you will learn (that’s either positive or encourages a course correction.)

Calling yourself a failure

Obviously, call yourself something nicer since you’re always listening to and finding evidence for what you say :) 

Thinking that failure is negative 

What if you thought of failure as growth? Isn’t that really what it is? Failure/not doing it perfect the first time is simply an opportunity to learn. If you’re not learning you’re not growing and learning is never a fail.

Using failure as a reason to quit

Use it as an opportunity to keep going!

👉Fail often and fail up but whatever you do stop fearing it! 

Can't get enough of failing? Here's another blog post I wrote about my daughter and failing :) 

START YOUR MONDAY WITH ENOUGH MOTIVATION TO SPRINGBOARD YOU TO FRIDAY AND GET A BREAKTHROUGH TOOL TO START USING IMMEDIATELY!

Drop your name and email here and let’s start rocking Mondays together!

Bonus!
When you sign up for Motivation Monday, you get the go-to tool I use every time my current situation feels heavy, stressful, or icky. It works like a champ to quickly turn it around so you’re present and empowered to take targeted action without over-thinking and stalling out for-ev-er. Get it here.