Why Trying to Avoid Failure At All Cost Is Bad For You

Fear is part of human nature. As an entrepreneur, I used to face the fear of failure. My ego and identity became intertwined with my work, I tried as much as I could to avoid failure and mistakes. When things didn't go as planned, I completely shut down. Fortunately, I overcame this unhealthy relationship with fear of failure, and I believe that you can, too.

Fear of failure will cause us to avoid potentially harmful situations, but it will also keep us from reaching our full potential. It keeps us from trying, creates self-doubt, stalls progress, and may lead us to go against our morals. It can be so strong that avoiding failure eclipses the motivation to succeed.

What Causes a Fear of Failure?

Here are the main reasons why fear of failing exists:

1. Childhood Environment

Being raised in an environment where you were taught that failure is unacceptable can cause fear of failure to be a learned behavior. That fear of failure can lead to emotional and psychological issues including panic attacks, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and shame. You may have had people in your life who gave you ultimatums and enforced fear-based rules.

2. Perfectionism

For perfectionists, failure is so terrible and humiliating that they don't try. Stepping outside your comfort zone becomes terrifying. Perfectionism can similarly arise from childhood if the idea of anything less than perfect was perceived as a failure. The ego usually leads us to want to aim for perfection and our wanting to please others.

Too many organizations today have cultures of perfection: a set of organizational beliefs that any failure is unacceptable. Imagine the stress and terror in an organization like that. The lying, cheating, falsification of data, and hiding of problems—until they become crises that defy being hidden any longer.

Contrary to this mindset, a recent study shows that cultivating a fear mindset holds organizations back from making profitable decisions.

3. Over-Personalization

Ego may lead us to over-identify with failures. You may believe that your failures significantly inform how others see you and you fear being viewed as a failure.

Many fail because of their ego-driven commitment to what worked in the past. You often see this with people more advanced in their career, especially those who made their names by introducing some critical change years ago.

They shy away from further innovation because they are afraid of failure. Besides, they reason the success of something new might even prove that those achievements they made in the past weren’t so great after all. Why take the risk when you can hang on to your reputation by doing nothing?

Such people are so deeply invested in their egos and the glories of their past that they prefer to set aside opportunities for future glory rather than risk even the possibility of failure.

How Bad Is Having the Fear of Failure?

The simplest way to be always winning and achieving is to never take a risk, and stick rigidly to what you know you can do, protect yourself, work the longest hours, double and triple check everything, and be the most conscientious and conservative person in the universe. When people no longer take risk, they are also missing opportunities that can help them grow into a better and even more successful person.

While everyone likes to succeed, the problem comes when fear of failure is dominant -- when you can no longer accept the inevitability of making mistakes, nor recognize the importance of trial and error in finding the most creative solution.

The more creative you are, the more errors you are going to make. Deciding to avoid the errors will destroy your creativity.

Balance counts more than you think - some tartness must season the sweetest dish. And a little failure is essential to preserve everyone’s perspective on success.

How to Overcome Fear of Failure?

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn." - John C. Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author

To overcome the fear of failure, we can start by figuring out where it comes from and reframing the way we feel about failure. When failure is a chance for growth and you've looked at all possible outcomes it's easier to overcome fear.

Check out the 7 steps on how to overcome your fear of failure here.

Leon Ho is the Founder and CEO of Lifehack – a productivity blog he started in 2005. He was listed as Business Week’s #4 “Top 24 Young Asian Entrepreneurs” and has grown Lifehack into one of the most read self-improvement websites in the world – with over 12 million monthly readers. You can check out his book The Full Life Essential Guide, and take a look at his self-improvement mastercourses here or join one of his free classes here.