I work as a life coach for entrepreneurs with a difficult past, and one of the things I see over and over is one of these 2 variations of fears. 

In either case, we have to understand that the fundamental job of Fear is to stop us from doing an action. In this case, whether a person is afraid of one or another specific outcome, the result is the same, Inaction.

To spot which variant we might feel will help us taking care of and overcome it. So let’s clarify this:

Fear of failure

is when we are afraid of the possible repercussions of one action going wrong. Seemingly self-evident, this is more involved than most imagine. 

Failing at something not only means that we might face the judgment of others but also involves facing the cold truth of knowing that we are “not as good as we think”. In other words, we sometimes don’t want to do something, so we can keep on saying and believing that we can do it.

Fear of success

What are the consequences of succeeding at something? There is this phycological principle which states that we act congruently with our identity. If a person believes that he or she is a failure, the possibility of succeeding at it will put in danger her sense of integrity. 

Success implies responsibility as well. Succeeding at finding a job, implies going to work from now on, and succeeding at getting off the meds, implies taking responsibility for one’s emotions from now on.

Conclusion

Courage is not about being fearless, but of being afraid and doing it anyway. 

Reflecting on what is exactly that causes fear has the same effect as turning the light on when we were afraid of the dark.

And remember, you can only fail when you don’t even try.

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