Cut Through Fear of Failure by Being Holy
Fear of failure got you frozen at work? I hope you don't suffer from this - like I have many times - but if you do you'll be happy to know that being a Catholic will help you here.
Now, you could find some personal development books, or even some personal development guru. They'll tell you what attributes you need to overcome fear of failure and then they'll take you through the steps you need to take to develop those attributes.
You could do that, and I'll tell you I've spent hours reading this sort of stuff. I've attended seminars, both on my own and the ones my company made me attend. In fact, for a while, I thought this personal development stuff would "save" me from my fear of failure.
And I'm not saying it was never helpful. I suppose it was better than just giving in to the fear. In that sense it surely was helpful. Maybe it even changed me somewhat for the better.
On the other hand, the way a lot of this literature and these gurus work is they want you to build up your self-confidence by building up your ego. They use terms like "self-actualized." They try to convince you that "you're in charge." But being Catholics we know we're really not in charge, don't we? God's in charge.
So I think if you're Catholic and you study your faith, you can find ways to deal with fear of failure that make a lot more sense and are totally consistent with the Faith. A few thoughts about that:
Now, you could find some personal development books, or even some personal development guru. They'll tell you what attributes you need to overcome fear of failure and then they'll take you through the steps you need to take to develop those attributes.
You could do that, and I'll tell you I've spent hours reading this sort of stuff. I've attended seminars, both on my own and the ones my company made me attend. In fact, for a while, I thought this personal development stuff would "save" me from my fear of failure.
And I'm not saying it was never helpful. I suppose it was better than just giving in to the fear. In that sense it surely was helpful. Maybe it even changed me somewhat for the better.
On the other hand, the way a lot of this literature and these gurus work is they want you to build up your self-confidence by building up your ego. They use terms like "self-actualized." They try to convince you that "you're in charge." But being Catholics we know we're really not in charge, don't we? God's in charge.
So I think if you're Catholic and you study your faith, you can find ways to deal with fear of failure that make a lot more sense and are totally consistent with the Faith. A few thoughts about that:
Look at these personal attributes: confident, simple, courageous,
free-spirited (sense of liberty), decisive and not worried about making
mistakes. These attributes describe the truly devout person, not the
“self-actualized” person.
We’ve been
convinced that being holy holds us back.
We’re told that Catholics have all sorts of psychological conflicts and
neuroses; that freedom, or liberty of spirit, lies in freeing or developing,
our personalities or our “inner self,” or a host of other constructs. In fact, being holy, being devout frees us to
be ourselves.
With unshakable faith and attention to the present moment we can
fearlessly act and accomplish anything we set our minds to – if that is God’s
will for us. And here’s the catch. We must learn to act fearlessly and accept
the consequences of our actions. And those consequences
may include failure in achieving our end, our goal. (After
all, isn’t taking responsibility for our actions a sign of a mature
individual? Isn’t denying or shirking
responsibility a sign of immaturity or, worse, of someone who lives a life of
lies and deceit?)
God may permit us to fail at times; not to discourage us, but to draw
us ever closer to Him. Material success,
fame, advancement in our profession are not, in themselves, evil. Only when they inordinately take up our time
and attention do they begin to turn evil.
And when the love of money or success displaces our love of God, then
they are truly evil.
If we learn to act fearlessly and take the consequences, we are acting
without fear of failure. If failure
should come, we turn our minds and hearts in exactly the same direction to
which we turn when we succeed: to God.
This isn't some sort of system. I haven't written a book about this and off the top of my head I don't know of any system or book to which I can refer you. But just think about this a bit. And maybe you'll see that, being Catholic, we can conquer fear of failure by increasing our faith, by learning to trust in God, by living in the present moment. If we work that way, our work will be good work, done for the greater glory of God.
This strikes me as more important - even more exciting and fulfilling - than some concept like "self-actualization." I hope it strike you that way too.
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