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Inner Game

Why Your Fear of Failure is Not a Bad Thing

epic failureThey say fear stands for: False Evidence Appearing Real.

Throughout life, we fear a lot of things…

As kids, we fear monsters under our bed or embarrassing ourselves at school. As adults, our fears shift to worries about our jobs, finances, health and loved ones. Overall, we often fear that we’ll fail at life’s challenges. 

Hey Moguls, Cody Sperber here to chat about the fear of failure, and the role it plays in your career as an investor.

You see, the fear of failure stops people from achieving their dreams. This is why people stay in nice, safe, secure jobs and they never venture out on their own. Now there’s nothing wrong with having a job that you like and you want…

But if you want something more in your life and you want to live the lifestyle of your dreams, then you need to train your mind to embrace failure.

Yes, in some cases having fear is a good thing, because it keeps us out of harm’s way. But the truth is – most people manufacture their own fears. That little voice inside starts saying things like:

  • “What if I fail and I lose money?”
  • “What if I fail and my friends or family say, ‘I told you this wouldn’t work?’”
  • “What if I fail and people laugh at me?”

Whatever your reason for fear is, it’s usually created by you and has no foundation in reality.

Now, I would like you to start thinking of failure as part of the success process. You might be thinking, “What does failure have to do with success?”

Hear me out...

When you think of failure, remember 2 things:

1. It weeds out the competition.

I am so thankful that what I'm doing is just hard enough to weed out my weaker competition. It makes winning at the game of real estate so much more enjoyable than if every ding dong on the planet could do it.

2. Give yourself permission to fail.

Think about that. If you give yourself permission to fail, you will always work through challenges with optimism. At the end of each day, the challenges make you a better investor.

Let me give you a little more motivation...

Trust me, once you learn to embrace failure, you’ll be well on your way to succeeding in real estate investing – and in other areas of your life too.

If at First You Don’t Succeed...

Henry Ford once said that:

Failure is the only opportunity to start over more intelligently. If you find
something that doesn’t work, then you can start again more intelligently because
you know what didn’t work in the first time.”

Way to go Ford. I really dig that. It makes a ton of sense to me.

Okay, let’s talk about 3 major failures in history we can really learn from:

History Lesson #1:

The corporation known as the Wall Disney Company makes an average revenue of more than $30 billion annually.

But...

  • Walt Disney started his own business from his home garage, and his very first cartoon production went bankrupt.
  • During his first press conference, a newspaper editor ridiculed Walt Disney because he had “no good ideas in film production.”

FailureMakes you think, doesn’t it? Interesting to have that perspective.

History Lesson #2:

Michael Jordan is widely known as the greatest basketball player of all time. He’s a phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and unquenchable competitive desire. Jordan singlehandedly redefined the NBA superstar.

But...

  • Before joining the NBA, Jordan was just an ordinary person. So ordinary that he was cut from his high school basketball team because of his lack of skill.

Can you believe that?

History Lesson #3

This one is great. In 1943, there was a severe shortage of rubber. A scientist named James Wright and his team at the GE Research Lab were trying to develop a new silicone hard rubber.

But...

  • After a year of research, Wright made a huge mistake while mixing a combination of chemical compounds. The result was a gooey and seemingly useless rubber compound instead of the hard rubber like they wanted to achieve.
  • Frustrated, Wright threw the goop on the ground and it bounced back at him. Wright smiled and said, “That was silly.” That, friends, was the birth of silly putty.

boatEveryone has played with silly putty. Right?!

My point…

You can clearly see that some of the greatest successes in history didn’t have an easy start. Walt Disney, Michael Jordan and James Wright were all initially considered to be failures in their respective careers.

Think of what they would have lost, if they had given up completely.

When you feel tempted to give up, think of what you could lose. And don’t let the fear of failure win.

Talk to Me

What tactics do you have for conquering your fear of failure in real estate investing? Share in the comments section below.

 

Do It To It! Immediate Action Steps

Write down 2-3 ambitious business goals that “scare” you. Make it your focus to work on achieving these goals. Even if you experience failure along the way, take steps toward each goal in the next 6-12 months.

Schedule time to meet with one person who you consider to be successful in their career. Ask them how they met their goals, what motivates them and how they continued working toward their dream in the face of failures.  

Look forward. Don’t dwell on past failures. When you fail, write down 3 things you’ve learned from the experience, and remember that these are the keys to your future success. 
 

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