6.11 Strategies for Combating Fears

Strategies for Combating Fear of Failure

If you notice yourself struggling with the fear of failure, try the following:

• Reframe your goals. If you’ve set a specific goal, consider a range goal instead. Or, take time to rethink your objectives and reframe your goal to be around how you want to feel, rather than what you want to accomplish.
• Visualize yourself overcoming obstacles. Envision yourself achieving your goals by creating a mental image of the process it would take to reach your desired outcome, using all of your senses. This strategy is commonly used by athletes and performers and has been shown to have a positive effect on performance (Thelwell & Greenless, 2003). While visualization does not guarantee success, our minds are powerful. These visualization exercises and mental rehearsals are interpreted as real by our brains.
• Consider what has been learned. Think about other times you’ve struggled with fear or didn’t feel good about the outcomes of the action. Then ask yourself: What did I learn from the experience? How can I grow as a person from this experience? What are three positive things about this experience?
• Allow yourself to feel the fear. Give yourself space to really experience and deeply feel the emotion for a certain amount of time, such as five minutes. Then, pay attention to how the emotion is manifested in the body. Where do you feel tension or tightness? Use breathing techniques or progressive muscle relaxation to release tension from the body.

Strategies for Combating Fear of Success

If fear of success is something that causes you to procrastinate, try the following:

• Ask yourself, “What will happen if I succeed?” Give this question your conscious attention and consider what underlying fears are getting in the way. You might discover that you don’t want to achieve a particular outcome after all; perhaps the negative side effects outweigh the positives. If that’s the case, feel proud that you authentically considered what matters most to you and made your decision based on your needs and desires.
• Keep an attitude of learning and growth. Remember that success is not a destination; it is a journey that is defined by you. Consider how you define success and challenge yourself to recognize all the ways you are successful. For example, a student decides to reframe their societal success—like landing a specific job in a specific career, for example—to a success of being significant— by recognizing and believing that who they are in the world is significant and makes a positive impact on others.
• Frame success within the dimensions of the wellbeing model. Ask yourself how you’re defining success in this moment. Then, consider how your definition fits within the dimensions of wellbeing model of health, relationships, security, purpose, community, and environment. You’ll likely find that you have many other areas of life that are important to you, such as spending time with loved ones or enjoying hobbies, and that true success is defined by many ways of doing or being.

Strategies for Combating Fear of the Unknown

If you find yourself feeling afraid of the unknown, it could be helpful to try the following:

• Focus on what could be. Ask yourself, what are good things that could come from this situation? It can help to get insights from other people who have been through similar situations or experiences who might find other positive benefits that might not naturally occur to you.
• Understand the root of the fear. Complete this sentence: “I am afraid of *blank* because *blank*.” Examine your past; does the fear come from certain situations or memories in your past? How did you or others handle the situation, and how did that impact your feelings about taking action? If you find it difficult to do this alone, consider talking with a close friend or another supportive person to help you identify connections or patterns in your thoughts.
• Make a pros/cons list. Consider possible outcomes of the action, and then make a pro/con list for each of those potential outcomes. Just the act of creating the list and writing out the pros and cons can provide feelings of control, which, as a result, can help mitigate the stress of the unknown.
• Practice mindfulness. Experiment with various mindfulness techniques, such as meditation, yoga, or keeping a journal. Being present in the moment allows for more space to be aware of your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, and can help you come up with strategies for addressing the fear.

Student Perspectives: How Do You Use Breathing Exercises?

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