Fear of Failure – Really?

The business of New Insights is in training, developing and inspiring individuals to become life coaches and, in so doing, bring freedom, confidence and growth to people from all walks of life.

Our certification programme is not ‘easy’. If it were, it would lack credibility and constitute a disservice to those who have qualified through us.

Having said that though, it is certainly very achievable for anyone with integrity, a passion for people, an open mind and a desire to learn about human motivation.

The main obstacle to success rarely has anything to do with lack of intellect, qualifications, talent, money or other resources. The main stumbling block is inevitably the mindset.

Even the most capable people are prone to procrastination, often due to an underlying fear of failure.

[box type=\”shadow\”]“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

– Bill Cosby[/box]

And yet, failure is a purely subjective concept. When we come to understand that, we realise just what a waste of time and energy fear of failure represents.

With the holiday season and a whole new year not far off, I thought you might derive inspiration from knowing that some of the most amazingly successful people started out as what many of us would term ‘failures’.

Oprah Winfrey

One of the richest and most iconic women in the world was once fired from her television reporter job due to claims that she was “unfit for television”!

Winston Churchill

He failed his sixth form education and faced defeat in every election for public office in which he ran, before he became Prime Minister of the UK (at age 62).

Marilyn Monroe

Though she died at an early age she was hugely successful. Modelling agents could not see this at first. They told her that she would probably have more success as a secretary!

Henry Ford

Ford endured bankruptcy on five occasions before he became the man who we admire today.

Vincent van Gogh

This master painter only ever sold one painting, to a friend for a paltry sum. He regularly had to endure starvation in order to complete his over 800 known works

Ludwig von Beethoven

His teacher labelled him a ‘hopeless composer’.

Walt Disney

Walt was fired for lack of ideas by a newspaper editor. He also went bankrupt a number of times before he completed Disneyland.

Charles Darwin

This ‘father of the theory of evolution’ was told by his own father, \”You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat catching.\”

Steven Spielberg

He applied on three occasions to the California School of Theatre, Film and Televison … and was rejected three times!

Albert Einstein

The man we respect today as a genius did not speak until he was four years old and did not read until he was seven. He was described by his teacher as \”mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams.\”

Elvis Presley

This blockbuster artist was told by his manager, in 1954: “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”

Fred Astaire

In 1933 the testing director of MGM wrote the following about him: \”Can\’t act! Slightly bald! Can dance a little!\”

J K Rowling

This lady, now one of the richest women in the world, was nearly penniless when she started out writing. She was dependent on welfare grants, severely depressed and divorced.

Thomas Edison

He was told by his teachers that he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired for lack of productivity in his first two jobs. His success in inventing the lightbulb came only after 1000 unsuccessful attempts.

Bill Gates

Gates dropped out of Harvard and started a business called Traf-O-Data which failed, before he conceived of Microsoft.

Now … do you still harbour a fear of failure?