How to Overcome Your Fear of Making Mistakes
The Covid-19 crisis and its fallout – including recession, layoffs, and uneven economic pain – as well as recent protests over police brutality and demands for racial justice have presented many of us with challenges that we’ve not encountered before. The high-stakes and unfamiliar nature of these situations have left many people feeling fearful of missteps
Don’t be afraid or ashamed of your fear
Fear of making mistakes has an evolutionary purpose and upside
- A cautious leader has value
- Don’t interpret your fear of mistakes as evidence that you are an indecisive or bold leader
- Channel your natural tendency to be prevention-focused to be bold and visionary
Broaden your thinking
When we’re scared of making a mistake, our thinking can narrow around that particular scenario.
- This can help you see your greatest fears in the broader context of all the other threats out there
- Find out what other people’s priorities are
Recognize the value of leisure
We need leisure (and sleep!) to step back, integrate the threads of our thinking, see blindspots, and think creatively.
- Get some silent time – a game of golf might be exactly what you need to think about tough problems holistically.
Use emotional agility skills
Stating your fears out loud helps diffuse them
- Next comes accepting reality
- List off every truth you need to accept
- Then, acting your values
- For example, if your highest value is conscientiousness, how might that value apply in a crisis situation?
Detach from judgment-clouding noise
Being afraid of making mistakes doesn’t make you more or less likely to make good decisions.
- If you worry excessively in a way that focuses only on how bad the experience of stress and uncertainty feels, you might make do or say the wrong things.
Focus on your processes
Worrying can help you make better decisions if done effectively
- Direct your worry towards behaviors that will realistically reduce the chances of failure
- We can control systems, not outcomes
- Is the data you’re relying on reliable? What are the limitations of it?