How to overcome your fear of making mistakes
Parent Post
The Covid-19 crisis and
The Covid-19 crisis and its fallout have presented many of us with challenges that we’ve not encountered before.
The unfamiliar nature of these situations have left of us feeling fearful of missteps. No one can reduce mistakes to zero, but you can learn to harness your drive to prevent them and channel it into better decision making.
Here is how to overcome your fear of making mistakes.
Don’t be afraid or
Don’t be afraid or ashamed of your fear.
Mankind glorifies fearlessness. But fear has an evolutionary purpose and upside. It is there to remind you that you’re in a challenging situation.
Don’t be ashamed or afraid of it and don’t interpret it as evidence that you’re an indecisive leader.
If you have a natural tendency to be prevention-focused, channel it to be bold and visionary!
Recognize the value of
Recognize the value of leisure.
Fear grabs us. It makes it difficult to direct our attention away. This is how it is designed to work, so that we don’t ignore threats. This might manifest as behavior like staying up all night to work.
We need leisure to step back, integrate the threads of our thinking, see blindspots, and think creatively. Get some silent time.
Use emotional agility skills. Fear
Use emotional agility skills.
Fear of mistakes paralyzes people. Emotional agility skills are an antidote to this paralysis.
This process goes as follows:
- Label your thoughts and feelings. Stating your fears helps diffuse them.
- Accept the reality.
- Act your values. Identify your five most important values related to decision-making in a crisis.
Repeat this process for each of your fears. It will help you tolerate that we sometimes need to act when the best course of action isn’t clear.
Detach from judgment-clouding noise. When
Detach from judgment-clouding noise.
When people are fearful they can go into always-on monitoring mode. You may have the urge to constantly look at what everyone else is doing, to always be on social media, or check data too frequently. This can result in information overload.
Recognize if you’re doing this and limit over-monitoring or overchecking. Avoid panicked, frenzied behavior.
Focus on your processes. Worrying
Focus on your processes.
Worrying can help you make better decisions if you do it effectively.
When you worry, it should be solutions-focused, not just perseverating on the presence of a threat. Direct your worry towards behaviors that will realistically reduce the chances of failure.
We can control systems, not outcomes. What are your systems and processes for avoiding making mistakes?
Broaden your thinking. When we’re
Broaden your thinking.
When we’re scared of making a mistake, our thinking can narrow around that particular scenario.
When you broaden your thinking, you see your greatest fears in the broader context of all the other threats. This helps you get a better perspective on what you fear the most.
Reduce your fear of making a mistake by thinking about other negative outcomes. This strategy can help kick you into problem-solving mode and lessen the mental grip a particular fear has on you.