Adonis Diaries

Can you control fear? Can fear of failure be controlled and managed

Fear, change, uncertainty, future, courage, perseverance… These words seem to be intricately connected: You select one of these terms and the rest follow in the same article…

Do you think that the source of most of our fear is a feeling of lack of control?

In her book “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, Azar Nafisi wrote: “During the day, I did not have time to think about all the dead relatives and friends…I was not afraid of following the (Iran) Revolutionary Committees…I argued with the Revolutionary Guards…and I felt brave. I paid the heavy price at night: I had insomnia, I internalized the fear, I roamed the house, read and fell asleep with my glasses on…”

How do you face your fears?

Do you prepare for future failures so you won’t end up caught in the snare of fear. Sort of Preparation prevents reaction?

People are used to say: “Focus on what you control; identify, understand and prepare for what you can’t…”

“One way to combat our fears is to hit them head-on.” Soren Kaplan in “Leapfrogging: Harnessing the Power of Surprise for Business Breakthroughs,”.

On exploring your biggest possible failure, Dan Rockwell enumerated the following:

1. What does your most disastrous scenario look like?
2. What impact would this worst-case scenario have on individuals, teams, the organization, customers, …
3. What would be the short-term impact on you personally? Long-term impact?
4. What would you personally feel or experience?
5. How could you rebound from this failure?
6. What would you do next?
7. In what way could the failure be used as a stepping-stone?

Step back after exploring:

1. What insights have you gained?
2. What new alternatives or options opened up?
3. Did any of your assumptions or feelings about failure change?

Divide a sheet of paper down the middle. Create a bulleted list of items you control and things you cannot control. Explore, evaluate, prioritize, and consider the impact of each item.

Can you focusing on positive vision rather than possible failures? (I have lived 4 years with not a nickel in my pocket and no health insurance coverage, and I survived happily and healthily. Is that a foolish experiment?)

Do you think that exploring possible failures before they occur helps free you from the snare of fearing failure? (Got to experiment with your life and witness how far you can control your fear. I discovered that the hardest roadblock is “How can I safeguard my parents and relatives in cases of emergencies…?”)

Okay, you are handicapped with fear and the unknown…Can you Inspire Courage in Others, even when grappling with fear?

For example: