Failure Is a Mindset

As humans, we have the mental capacity to think of various scenarios in our lives which often invokes fear especially if they are related to failure. Everybody aspires to be the best version of themselves and this includes ensuring one is successful in school, career or life in general. The society we live in condemns failure instead of acknowledging that in order for one to be successful in life, at one point in their life, one needs to fail. Fighting the fear of failure is important in ensuring success and that is why optimism is a trait that is often encouraged among people. The article “On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus” by Jessica Bennett shows how most universities are offering lessons to students on the best ways to cope with failure. “Fear of Failure” by Karen Thompson Walker on the other hand looks at how our brains work – by invoking fear in us – especially in scenarios we think we might fail as well as causes of the fear. This paper will discuss how WC-unnecessary; can go directly to statement fear of failure is caused by several factors which include the individuals’ perfectionism and that of people around us, personalization of events we as individuals live through, lack of confidence and childhood experiences. Relevant and important background details; well-formulated thesis

In the article “On Campus, Failure Is a Syllabus”, Bennet points out that more often than not our fear is often fueled by comparison of our lives with those of others. We are often trying to portray a perfect image and when people see this perfect image, it may lead them into thinking that failure is not an option (Bennett). The society we live in has often condemned failure and it is for this reason that you meetWC-unclear. When someone experiences failure which is guaranteed to happen in a lifetime, then they are unable to understand how they could possibly deal with it. Bennett points out that there is a dynamic shift on the perception of failure as campuses are now offering a safe space where individuals are taught how to cope with failure. She points out examples of students who have experienced failure in university including failing the first exam or how one student’s poem “chocolate Caramels” had been rejected 21 times. In a new project at Smith called “Failing well”, there is talk on how one can cope and overcome fear without just trying to strive perfectionism. Talking of the failures openly has been one of the many approaches that has been used to tackle fear (Neff, pg. 263-287).?

Link this idea to the previous point for a smoother transitionFear is formulated in our minds and our imagination. This explains why we immediately perceive something dangerous in our mind – even though it may not be real – we fall victim to fear. This goes to show the great link between our mind, thinking/interpreting and perception. When we have so much imagination about failing in or at something often we will be afraid to even try it out. Fear of failure has been known to be immobilizing as it prevents one from venturing into new thingsWC or moving forward in life. When one allows fear into their lives, they are more likely to miss some great life changing opportunities. It is important that we advise ways one can deal with fear of failure. This is important because it can lead one to beVF optimistic and thinkVF positively. Optimism has been named as a goodWC way to build confidence and also help neutralize self-sabotage. When one is optimistic, even with failure they are more likely to give themselves a second chance into taking challenging steps again but this time towards success. Connect these ideas to points from one of the articles/sources

Thinking about our future will often invoke a certain fear in us especially if youWC are uncertain of your success or your life feels unstable. While it is a fact, that no one is certain about their future as we live in a world of uncertainties, optimism is still greatly important. It is important to understand that the future holds something better and that failures are a great part of ensuring we are ready for our success. How one handles their failure determines the next phase for them. When you experience a situation where you have failed, try to think of the worst scenario that could have happened, this can help in recognizing the small wins that one may experience. Walker, in her Ted talk on failure, encourages the need to study and conquer our fears. She encourages productive paranoia where one is able to be vigilant about potential bad events that may happen in one’s life, thus looking for mitigation to try and stop them. For example, when we know a storm is coming, we prepare ourselves, or in other words make sure we are indoors and our structures are strong enough to handle the storm. The storm in our lives can be failures and by recognizing the potential failures coming our way then we can gather emergency plans.

From Walker’s Ted talk, we can gather that fear is associated with lack of self-confidence, personalization of events and childhood experiences. Some people may have undergone certain situations in life that resulted in them developing fear (Walker). If one got in a car accident and they were almost losing their lives, then they are more likely to fear driving cars, as in their mind they believe this accident may happen again. In dealing with such kinds of fears, it is important for one to first recognize them. Some people have been blessed in that they are able to read into their fears more closely than others. Those who can admit and own to their fears are more likely to overcome them. This is why self-confidence is important. Failure however, may strip someone of their self-confidence. In dealing with this, there are steps one can take. For instance, accepting responsibility for one’s failure. When failure occurs we may be tempted into accusing other people of our failures but when you take responsibility for your actions, only then does it become easy to fight off failure. Denial of the present reality may cause you to lose even more and have a lot more regrets. Some valuable suggestions, but again, link to ideas from the unit article

Life skills have been identified as the best way of helping people deal with fear and failure. There is a correlation that has been established on developing anxiety or depression because of fear of failure. In our campuses you will often find that when a student develops fear of failing then they become hell bent on passing. This may lead to anxiety which is not healthy and may be more likely to lead to failure. Some of the life coping skills suggested in dealing with failure include confidence, acceptance and saying no to sympathy. Confidence is a key ingredient while coping with fear of failure (Stanley, pg. 1281). Confidence goes hand in hand with optimism. When one is optimistic then they are confident that they are going to overcome a certain situation no matter the circumstances presented to them. Acceptance is also a great way of coping with failure, when one fails in a certain aspect in their life they need to accept the situation and come up with ways to ease or solve the problem. Acceptance will facilitate moving on from the situation with the hope things will get better. Great points but connect to our articleIn order to experience success and wins in our lives, we will experience failure. Society needs to stop seeing failure as a sign of weakness but rather a sign of strength. Society needs to help the young people understand that failure does not mean the end of the road for them. Things may be going well but just a snap of the finger and everything changes. This is because we live in a world of uncertainties. We need to train our minds not to fear failure but rather train it to think optimistically in terms of what measure can one take if things do not go as planned. It is important to assume that even during the best of times that things may go wrong and that we can channel our fear and worries into action, preparation and coming up with ways to cope with the problem. Always remember that there is a light at the end of a tunnel.

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Works Cited

Bennett, Jessica. “On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 June 2017.

Neff, Kristin D., Ya-Ping Hsieh, and Kullaya Dejitterat. “Self-compassion, achievement goals, and coping with academic failure.” Self and identity 4.3 (2005): 263-287.

Stanley, E. “Dealing with fear of failure.” British medical journal (Clinical research ed.) 282.6272 (2003): 1281.

Walker, Karen Thompson. “Transcript of ‘What Fear Can Teach Us.’” TED.