Do It Anyway: Why Fear of Looking Stupid Is Costing You More Than You Think

Last week I shared how often we’re stuck in analysis paralysis because of a fear of losing money, and today we’re going to talk about why we’re so afraid of looking stupid.

It’s not actually a fear of failure

Isn’t it funny that so much of our fear is based on the opinions of others, moreso than our fear of failing?

When I was building the marketing engine of my real estate company one of the things I DESPISED was cold calling. 

I would absolutely dread picking up the phone and calling someone.

And technically speaking, the simple fact of the matter was that “failure” on a call was simply them saying they didn’t want to sell me their house.

So was my fear and dread rooted in a concern about the house they may or may not sell me?

Absolutely not. The fear was that I’d sound like a jackass.

That they’d dislike me for calling them. That they wouldn’t like me. 

My dread didn’t come from a fear of failure, it came from a fear of embarrassment.

The same could be said for you when you’re considering putting out a social media post, a newsletter like this, or launching a new product or service.

But the reality is…who gives a shit?

This is why having a strong purpose, mission, and vision is so important.

When you have big dreams, when you know what you’re capable of, and when the stakes are high, are you really going to let the fear of rejection, failure, or embarrassment stop you?

I didn’t think so. Neither will I.

In his book Turning Pro, Steven Pressfield addresses the reality of this fear.

“Each individual is so caught up in his own bullshit that he doesn’t have two seconds to worry about yours.”

The answer? Do it anyway.

Take imperfect action.

It (whatever it is for you) isn’t going to be perfect, no matter how long you delay and how perfect you try to make it. So go do it anyway…take action, fail fast, learn fast, pivot fast.

Finding alignment

Don’t get me wrong. My lesson and takeaway applied personally certainly isn’t that I should just suck it up and make the cold calls. 

I hated it. And there were better options available.

But it does mean that I need to just put the content out there and stop tweaking endlessly.

Do you have any idea how often I edit some of the newsletters I send you??

Tweaking word after word. Trying to make it sound perfect. And it doesn’t really matter.

The likelihood that you’re going to accept or reject me because of the sentence structure of a few parts of this newsletter is almost zero. Not worth the time.

So do what I’m doing…get it out there! Just do it!

Feedback is an opportunity for improvement

The myth that we often believe is that the prep work we do before putting ourselves out there is like ironing a shirt.

Eventually all the wrinkles will be gone and it’ll be perfect.

But that’s not how it works. 

Now matter how much endless tweaking & iteration you do, it still won’t be perfect. So just get it out there.

And in reality, you get even more value, benefit, and insight when you get it out there.

You can see it in action…you get feedback…you speed up your improvement cycle.

What’s the cost?

Here’s the final, most important piece of this fear of failure.

Failure, embarrassment, whatever the root is, it always feels scary. But what’s the opportunity cost?

What are your dreams that will be left unfulfilled?

What’s the impact that you won’t be able to make?

What are the experiences you’ll never have?

What life won’t you live because you’re so afraid of failing or embarrassment?

Get out there and get after it!

If this speaks to you in any way, I’d love to hear about it. Where is a fear of failure holding you back? And what can you do about it?

Let me know! And then let’s do something to change that.