While the fear of failure comes naturally for everyone, it’s often intense and profound
in some people.
In most cases, this persistent fear results from perceived situational failure and can
also be somewhat related to mental issues, including depression and anxiety.
People with the fear of failure often experience physical and behavioral disturbances, with
perturbed psychological states.
Having high expectations for foreseen outcomes often makes people anxious about the future,
and they may develop the nagging fear of achieving below expectations.
There are clear signs to make it certain that you have a phobia of failure.
In this video, we will discuss these signs.
1.
Playing Down Success To Lower People’s Expectations
If you constantly disregard success, not because you think you are incapable, but to lower
people’s expectations about you, you are probably fearful of failure.
People with this psychological condition often presume that failure may likely disappoint
others.
They will lower their expectations beforehand, even for easier tasks or small challenges.
Such people won’t find it easy to admit success but will reduce expectations to convince
people that they are incapable.
It makes them believe that this technique deflects the attention from them.
2.
Discontentment Is What You Want To Achieve But Fear To Take A Step To Improve.
If you find that you are overly fearful of failure, you will express discontent in what
you do.
More commonly, you will be engulfed with skepticism about the credibility of what you’re doing.
You will be full of the desire of “wanting to find out what is in store for you”.
You will presume that what you do, feels void and unfulfilling, and feel that taking a leap
of faith in a different path may give you the contentment you crave.
You may even quit your job, on the impulse of seeking a new challenge, or finding your
passion for escaping your apparent stalemate.
But does it work?
Not usually.
You will be stuck in a quagmire, unaware of the next steps.
3.
You Convince Yourself You Are Not Afraid
Although it’s entirely normal to feel nervous at certain times, you will constantly convince
yourself that you aren’t.
You will develop the need to reassure yourself that you are unmoved no matter how daunting
the leap is.
This need to convince yourself is a result of skepticism in your potential and abilities,
and you will try to find ways to establish yourself that you have what it takes to succeed.
4.
You Become Private
You fail to openly admit new ventures and challenges because you worry about people
reacting or thinking ill of you if you fail.
This fear is normally a result of low self-esteem, and uncertainty about the endeavor you want
to start.
Therefore, you do things in private so that you don’t invite criticism if things go
wrong.
5.
Shame
The nagging feeling of shame never leaves you when you fail or if things don’t go
your way.
You tend to put your head down because it’s both a disappointment and a shame to you.
You start feeling like your ego is hurt beyond recovery, and the only redemption is doing
the same thing until you finally succeed.
While this is a testament to dedication and perseverance, the negative self-talk and shame
can be detrimental to your overall psychological health.
6.
Too Much Preparation But Less Action
You will be afraid to give unimpressive results and often spend an eternity preparing for
a task.
You will want to be a perfectionist, with spotless outcomes or yielding unflawed results.
However, this is unrealistic.
No one is perfect at all times.
The result is spending a lot of energy and effort but making very little progress.
Before you know it, it will be too late to even take substantive action.
This stagnation is often a combined result of the desire for perfectionism, and the skepticism
of your abilities to take immediate action.
While the fear of failure is not a medically diagnosable mental condition, it’s normally
assumed to be a psychological issue rather than a health disorder.
People obsessed with success are normally known to be overly fearful about failure,
as they are more often worried about perfection and perfectionism.
While being perfect is a goal to work towards, it does not define or amount to true success.
Since fear of failure is associated with anxiety and depression, getting treatment through
psychotherapy can diagnose underlying issues.
However, understanding that nothing has to be perfect, and that you can live within your
own limits will make your fear of failure recede.
Do you suffer from fear of failure?
Share your story with us in the comments.
If you enjoyed this video then don’t forget to hit the like button, give it a thumbs up
and subscribe to our channel.
Spread the love and send this video to at least 2 friends or your favorite group chat.
Sharing is caring after all.
Be sure to hit the bell icon to stay up to date with our latest videos.
Remember to be polite to yourself first, so you can be polite to others.
Take care of yourself.
Until next time.