Debunking the fear of failure

As I have already discussed in one of my posts , one of the most frightening things about acting is the idea of failure.
When we think about failure, we usually envision images of us being homeless and abandoned by all of our family and friends.
I cannot imagine what kind of disgrace could lead to such a nightmare situation!

Two things:

1) First, there is no need to risk everything in any project. There is always the way of starting a new project on the side, experiencing what it is like, then gradually increasing our time/resources investment in it.
2) Second, the worst case scenario, although extremely rare, wouldnt be that bad anyway: we usually can rely on our family for an emergency roof, and we still have us, meaning that we are perfectly capable of returning to what we were doing before. This experience will also let us know who our real friends are.

                

So, we cannot rationally accept the unmotivated fear that keeps us away from translating our dreams into action.

But this is not enough. We should make a mental shift from the idea that failure is bad to the idea that failure is a step into the right direction!

At ICTeam, we very often introduce tests into our direct marketing activities. Whether or not they show an improvement over the alternative they are built against, what they bring is information. Knowing that something worked or not, independently from how good or bad it makes us feel, is useful information we carry with us for the future.

Here is a short list of successful people who came short first, but did not lose faith in their vision:

1) Thomas Edison: before building the first working light bulb, Edison made 1.000 unsuccessful attempts

2) Bill Gates: Traf-O-Data, the first company by Gates and Allen, resulted in a complete failure

3)  Stephen King: his first book, Carrie, was rejected 30 times before finding a publisher

4) Michael Jordan: basketballs GOAT was cut from his high school team                                                                  
If you want more examples, find a list of 50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First.

Do you think that never failing will make you better than those great people? Remember:

Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up [Chinese Proverb]