Athena Captain Blog

Perfection Is Not Greatness - Overcoming Fear of Failure

Written by Athena Captain | Nov 18, 2020 6:00:00 AM

When we are building our business, trying a new marketing idea, or prospecting to a new Target Market, we need to remember it will never be perfect at first. Wait, I take that back… it will NEVER be perfect.

All these negative thoughts of worst case scenarios rush through our minds. We are so afraid of failure (or perceived failure) that it may keep us in our comfort zone and drain our motivation to succeed. We often slow our process down to make sure everything is perfect before we execute, in work and in life, and we end up missing windows of opportunity and overthinking ourselves into a corner instead of overcoming fear of failure.

WHY?

Fear. Plain and simple. We are afraid of judgment and of failure, and we simply don’t want the rejection. Research has shown that everyone experiences these fears, even the most successful people. How do I know this? Every time I write a Facebook or blog post, I face this fear. Writing is not my strength, to say the least. This post is far from perfect, and I know that many of you reading it are picking it apart right now.

Here’s another example: along with a fantastic business partner, I recently launched a side business called SOAR - a Sales Program for Rookies to have a learning experience and make more money. It is a start-up. Our website needs LOTS of love, we need help with all of our social media, and we are still working out the details.

Yet we have students who are already learning and seeing results. Those results are feeding families. Should we have waited until it was perfect to launch? I don’t know… ask those sales people who are cashing larger commission checks because of what they learned and executed, even though our website and socials were “not quite there yet”. 

Why do I tell you this? Because you are not alone. It’s very important that you remember that.

When you’re worried how your prospecting call is going to sound to your prospect, or how your listing presentation is going to sound to the homeowner, or whether people are going to laugh at your Facebook post, remember: the fear is normal, but the difference between you (as an achiever) and everyone else is that you’re going to do it anyway. And it’s going to pay off.

Confucius said, “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without”. A blog post, listing presentation, or sales call that’s done is infinitely better than one that’s perfect but never got published or shared.

So TODAY I want you to be honest with yourself and tell me: what you are putting off?

Just do it!