Fear of Success or Failure

Helpful Hints

Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind when you’re faced with fear:

• Don’t deny fears – Listen to what’s going on inside. Write down your feelings.
• Identify fears – What frightens you? Fear of failure? Success? Responsibility? Be specific.
• Confront fears – Challenge yourself to face things that scare you. For example, if you’re afraid of certain types of exercise, try something for a specified period of time – and don’t give up until you’ve reached your goal.
• Manage your fears – Take small steps to overcome what scares you.  Walk before you run.
• Prepare for your fears – Rehearse scary situations in your mind to prepare for an event. For example, if hiking frightens you, picture yourself enjoying a fun trek through the mountains.
• Failures equal learning and experience – There is no such thing as “failure” if you’re giving it your all. You are learning, growing, and getting better each time you move forward.

Getting Past the Monster

Fear is just one of the monsters around the corner, at the ready to block your path to success.  He likes to fill you with fear, giving you reasons to fail. Here are some of the things he’ll tell you:

Give up because you aren’t seeing immediate results. Give up because the results are less than expected. It’s too hard.  You should just quit. You can’t do it.  I don’t know why you thought you could. I’m going to congratulate myself for staying on this path, so you can get the &#$% out of my way.
Here are the answers you can give him to make him go away: If I focus on weight loss and fitness, I’m making progress. Health and fitness are lifelong goals of mine. Yes, it’s hard, but staying focused on my goals is easy.