Whether we welcome change or not, at some point, we will fail during our transition.

It’s inevitable and we should expect it as a sign that we are doing things differently and learning in the process.

As you change your way of working and thinking (for it’s difficult to change our ways without adapting our mindset, however slightly), you will make mistakes. If you are not making them, then you are not adapting but holding on to that which you know will help you coast along, comfortably.

Fearing “getting it wrong” will prevent you from trying out new ways of working. This means that:

You will miss out on opportunities.
If your focus is on repeating your preferred modes of working, you will not be open to new things which come your way: realising that you can learn from what a colleague is doing, finding out about a new source of information or creating a system that will save you time in the future.

You will not take risks.
I’m not saying behave recklessly; I’m not saying you should take a risk for the sake of it. But taking risks allows us to open the door to something better, more exciting, more satisfying, more productive, more profitable.

You will never learn how to get over failure.
It’s impossible not to make mistakes. But if you avoid situations just because you are likely to fail, you will never learn how to cope.

Trying something new can easily make us uncomfortable. If you are lucky, it will make you excited, but even this might make you nervous. So, if you are worried about making a mistake, here are three questions worth answering.

What is the worse that could happen?
Would you be able to cope? Yes? Go for it! No? Then make a decision not to change now, stop thinking about it and revisit in 3 – 6 months.

What will the future look like if you don’t try it out?

What will it look like if you do?

Hopefully answering these three questions will get you a little closer to reducing that fear of failure which often prevents us from trying something new.