There's a Fortune in Failure
Part 2
by Dr. Gary Bradt

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3. Stop trying to be perfect. Sports psychologist Bob Rotella wrote a helpful little book called Golf is not a Game of Perfect. Golf is not a game of perfect, and neither is business nor just about any other venture you might imagine. Trying to be perfect can keep you from trying new and untested methods for reaching your goals. The valuable experiments that ultimately will lead to success will never happen if you are afraid to attempt them in the first place. In a vain attempt at perfection, we might freeze up and keep whatever natural talent we have from taking over.
Rather than strive for perfection, strive for action; bold, resolute action in the direction of your goals. You can make mid-course corrections as you go, but you'll never have the chance if you never get started. Aiming for perfection is fine; expecting it, however, is unrealistic. Let your unrealistic expectations of perfection go and your results will start to flow.
4. Manage fear before it manages you. Perhaps nothing holds us back as much as fear. Fear is our natural protection against threats to our physical survival. Too often however, fear gets triggered when physical survival is not an issue. No one is gong to die if his or her promotion doesn't come through. Physical harm won't follow if your idea gets shot down at a meeting. You won't lose an appendage if you return from your sales call empty-handed (depending on your boss, that is!) Heck, even getting fired doesn't mean it's the end of the world.
Just because fear often gets triggered in these situations doesn't mean you have to succumb to it. Gather yourself, take a deep breath, tell yourself you're okay, and go about taking your next step forward, whatever it may be. Don't let your autonomic nervous system convince you're about to get eaten by a tiger when you're not. Learn to control your fear or it will end up controlling you.
5. Stay in the moment. What if? can be a very useful question for anticipating scenarios and stirring creativity. "What if we doubled market share next quarter? What if we could take the best aspects of our competitor's products and roll them into ours? What if we could use our expertise to aid the less fortunate in our community?" Good questions all. Unfortunately, too often our internal dialogue goes more like this: "What if I say something dumb at the meeting and everyone laughs and decides I'm stupid? What if the economy takes a turn for the worse? What if we get bought out and I lose my job?" We begin to imagine negative What If scenarios and put so much mental energy into them that we have little left over for more positive endeavors, and failures mount.
To counter this trend, notice when you are becoming anxious. Then, notice your thoughts. Likely, you have mentally raced ahead to some scary place that doesn't exist. Bring yourself back to the here and now. Ask yourself, "What's going on right here, right now?" It's likely not nearly as bad as what you were imagining. Dealing with the realities of the moment will help you avoid creating unnecessary failures in the future.
A Final Word
If fear of failure is holding you back from pursuing your dreams or accomplishing your goals, challenge yourself to think again. Specifically, rethink how you think about failure itself, and its relationship to your self-concept. Often, failure is the first and necessary step toward discovering our fortune; it points the way to success. Perhaps Henry Ford put it best: "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
(c) 2007 Gary Bradt, All rights reserved.

Dr. Gary Bradt is a change and leadership expert, speaker and author of The Ring in the Rubble: Dig Through Change and Find Your Next Golden Opportunity (The Ring in the Rubble). His diverse client base includes IBM, FedEx, General Motors, American Express, Marriott International, The Weather Channel, The Department of Defense, and NASA. For many years he was endorsed by Spencer Johnson as the primary speaker worldwide on Johnson's business bestseller Who Moved my Cheese? He resides in Summerfield, North Carolina with his wife and two children.
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