Break Through Fear and Self Doubt by James Nsien II - HTML preview

Chapter 10

Don’t Fear Failure – Fear Missing out on Life

You know what they say… “you always miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” However, to someone with an intense fear of failure, it reads more as “if you don’t take the shot, you can’t fail.”

The logic makes sense to sufferers, but the lifestyle is not one of living at all – it is incredibly important for the life of the immediate sufferer, as well as those of their family and friends – that the fear be overcome.

Exploring Atychiphobia

Atychiphobia is a different sort of fear in that it often manifests over time as a result of the sufferer’s own decisions and choices. What starts out as wariness transforms into a fear that prevents the sufferer from taking any risks or chances; this results in an extremely limited life in both the personal and professional senses.

Personally, sufferers are unlikely to have significant relationships, particularly those of a romantic nature, due to a fear of not being enough or of having the relationship fail. Professionally, sufferers are unlikely to have significant careers, let alone a career that allows them to explore their interests and talents. When opportunities do appear, the sufferer does not take advantage for fear of failing – as a results, their growth potential is very limited, and unfortunately, a result of self-inflicted limitations.

Sufferers of this disease often display a pattern of behaviors or thoughts, such as:

• Worrying what other people will think if they fail
• Whether failing will prevent being able to pursue the future they desire
• Whether people will lose interest in them if they fail
• Failure brings into question intelligence and capabilities
• Worry about disappointing people if they fail – will it change their opinion of them?
• Consistently underselling in order to prevent others’ disappointment and surprise should they fail
• An inability to analyze a failure to assess what they could do differently to change the outcome
• Physical reactions, such as nausea or headaches, that prevent proper preparation
• Procrastination and easy distraction that prevent proper preparation

Coping and Conquering Atychiphobia

Since Atychiphobia – or the fear of failure – is a phobia with a psychological nature, much of the treatment relies on psychological exercises and therapy.

Most often, this phobia manifests in reaction to a negative (or series of related negative) reactions or experiences. For example, perhaps as a child your father was belittling and disappointed in you if you lost a baseball game. Or a teacher called you out and embarrassed you on numerous occasions for not doing well on a test or for providing an incorrect answer. These experiences can scar an impressionable mind and condition one to believe that it is better to not try at all than to try and fail.

A reflection on these types of experiences and life patterns can often be the first step toward peace. Successfully conquering this phobia is a matter of recognition, gaining understanding, and then learning to empower oneself and to control their feelings.