As I travel around the country as an author and high achievement expert, I’ve discovered that many students and young professionals fail to fully realize their dreams because of fear. Some of the top fears are:
- Fear of the unknown
- Fear of rejection
- Fear of embarrassment
- Fear of success and the expectations that come with it
- … and the No. 1 fear is “the fear of failureâ€
I interviewed a young professional who has attained the type of success that a lot of young people dream about pursuing in 2013, but they’re afraid. Twenty-eight-year-old Farrah Gray was raised on Chicago’s impoverished South Side, and by age 14, was one of the youngest teens to become a self-made millionaire in the United States.
As a result of his amazing business and philanthropic successes, he’s been featured by Oprah Winfrey, BET, CNN, Good Morning America, USA Today, as well as the Tom Joyner Morning Show and Michael Baisden Show—to name a few.
Here are tips that he wanted to share with BlackEnterprise.com readers on how to overcome the fear of failure:
- Depersonalize failure and rejection: Don’t view yourself as a failure. Failure and rejection are just somebody else’s opinions of you. Embrace the concept of failure and use it as a learning experience because it’s not over until you win.
- Become self-made and never give up: When you feel like giving up think about the reasons why you’ve held on so long. Remember that when you face your breaking point your breakthrough is right around the corner because persistence is the best way to overcome resistance. Be mindful that you have to walk and knock on 1,000 doors before one will open.
- Operate to the beat of your own drum and don’t take no for an answer: As young people and professionals, we’ve been told “no†all of our lives—‘No, it’s not your turn,’ ‘No, you’re not old enough,†‘No, you don’t have enough experience,’ or ‘No, you can’t get a loan.’ But now it’s time to for you to say, ‘Nobody will stop me!’
- Be your own Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Only Operating Officer (OOO): You have to make things happen for yourself. You are your own product and service. You must continue to develop and refine yourself so you will be nimble, therefore you’ll be able to adapt to the ever-changing business and job markets.
- Don’t wait. Hustle: Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘Things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.’ We are a generation of hustle, and we should never forget that. If one does it for the right reasons, hustling will bring about many positive rewards and benefits. Don’t wait, start hustling now.
For more career and business enhancing tips, get a copy of Gray’s best-selling book Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You from Success. Connect with him on Twitter @RealFarrahGray. Tweet this posting with the hash tag #IWillNotFail to keep this conversation going, Share it with your Facebook and Twitter friends so you can create a positive and supportive social media success network to overcome fear and reach success.
Antoine Moss, Ph.D., (@2PositiveTweets) is a nationally recognized resource on internships, early career achievement, leadership and motivation. CEO and founder of CEO Style Consulting L.L.C., Moss empowers professionals and organizations to reach their full potential, and serves as speaker, workshop instructor and consultant. The author of Learn to Intern CEO Style, Moss has been a featured expert on outlets including Fox 8 TV News and George Fraser’s 2011 Power Networking Conference.