So many people would rather be disappointed and unfulfilled doing things that are safe than go through the anxiety of chasing valuable dreams and goals. Sadly, they prefer a safe, meaningless status quo over taking a risk that might lead to failure—or might lead to success.
I have a friend, David, who is a successful journalist. And like many journalists, he’s long had a secret desire to write a novel. But he kept putting it off and putting it off. He told himself, I need to build up some savings, because writing a novel is time consuming and may never pay a dollar. That was true. But it also became an excuse. He had a version of atychiphobia. What if I write the novel and it’s no good and nobody reads it? he wondered. If that happened, David would no longer be able to tell himself, I have the potential to write a great story. Because if he’d given it his best and failed, a part of his self-perception would be disproved
For example, people with fear of failure may…