How to Overcome the Fear of Making Mistakes

We all suffer from procrastination at one time or another and for a lot of different reasons. For some folks procrastination is so bad that it becomes debilitating, with the inability to get virtually anything done. Or at least anything of importance done.

Here’s a procrastination busting tip for you…

Are you afraid of making mistakes?

The fear of making mistakes is one of the top reasons that people procrastinate.
This fear can keep you from developing and maintaining wonderful relationships. It can limit your potential in your business. It creates mental stress and anxiety that can lead to physical problems. It keeps you from getting important and consequential things done.

The following tips and practices are proven to psychologically help you deal with your fear of making mistakes that leads to procrastination that can then lead to failure.

A big component of the fear of making mistakes is that ugly monster called Perfectionism.

Realize That You Are Going to Make Mistakes

We human beings are imperfect in so many ways and that’s precisely why we make mistakes. You are going to make mistakes. Everyone does. If you find that you either can’t complete projects or even get started because you’re afraid things won’t turn out perfect enough, you’ll need to change your thinking — at least on some things — that “good enough” is sometimes perfect.

Understand That No One Is Watching, and No One Really Cares

Many times, people are afraid of making mistakes because of what others will think about them. (Oh my goodness how this has held me back so many times!) The truth is, the world is not centered around you (or me).

Your mistakes are your own, no one else’s

It may be a sobering reality, but the world is not waiting for you to fail so they can laugh at you. In most cases, no one is concerned if you make a mistake or fail but yourself, so swing the bat. Who cares if you strike out? Nobody has to know what you do or don’t do unless you decide to tell them.

Mistakes and Failure Can Lead to Life-Changing Success

Thomas Edison failed a reported 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb. In school his teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything”. He was fired from his first two jobs because he was unproductive. What if Edison had given in to those early mental setbacks and stopped inventing?

Arguably one of the most important inventions of human history came about because Edison couldn’t care less whether or not he failed. When a reporter once asked him how it felt to fail 10,000 times before he successfully discovered how to harness electricity for light, Edison said, “I didn’t fail 10,000 times. I just discovered 9,999 ways that didn’t work.”

If you try but make a mistake, chances are you’ll have learned something valuable. So there’s no need to put off a project or plan just because you “might” make a mistake. Dive in, do your best, and see where it takes you.

Understand That Failure Never Produces the Disastrous Results You Are Picturing in Your Mind

The human mind is hardwired to protect us. When you contemplate making mistakes or failing at a certain endeavor, you inevitably over-exaggerate the results of that possible mistake in your mind.

This is just your survival instinct that dates back to the caveman days. Failure back then meant getting eaten by a bear, starving or freezing to death.

We still have that mechanism in our brains today, but for most of us, our survival is, fortunately, not on the line when we make decisions. Think about the times you’ve made mistakes in the past. Odds are that the horrific outcome you had created in your mind was totally overblown. The results of mistakes and failures are almost never as disastrous as we expect they will be.

I’ve got more tips coming over the next few days.

In the meantime, my program, Easy Procrastination Busters Revealed is just the thing if you want to tame the procrastination monster once and for all. Get it here.

If procrastination is debilitating you in any way, this program is for you.