Beyond Fear: Give Yourself the Power to Thrive After Failure

Beyond Fear Give yourself the power to thrive after failure.


"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."
--Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian writer

It is the fear of failing to achieve our dreams which convinces us to play safe. We are not so afraid of falling short as we are the perceived humiliation of failing to succeed. Our brains sometimes seize at the imagined pain of failing, of missing the brass ring, and admitting to our friends, families, and colleagues that, for whatever reason, we were unable to "make it happen."

To conquer this paralyzing fear, it seems to me that we must continue to visualize our lives beyond the moment of failure. We must entertain the idea, vividly, that what we most want will not happen on our first try, and then carry our visualization past failure.

I firmly believe that imagining a return to the ring after a crushing defeat gives us an inner strength to pursue our ambitions. Don't block the idea of failure. Don't say "failure is not an option." Take the sting out of failure by imagining how you will stand up again should you "fail" along the way.

Respect the lessons contained within failure... most notably the character it takes to try again.