Professionals often dread leading a call, meeting or presentation in English.

“What if I fail?”

“What will others think of me? I don’t want to come out as incompetent!”

“My business English needs further improvement before I start speaking English publicly at work!”

Can you see the pattern? There is something blocking them from taking action. That’s the fear of failure.

They believe they will mess up again the next time they need to speak English at work (for instance, during a meeting, call or presentation).

It’s a hopeless feeling that keeps your mouth shut most of the time. Even if you are a talented professional with much to give, you feel like everyone is sitting back and waiting for the next mistake in English you make.

More often than not, this is not the case. Everybody minds their own business and expects interaction and communication.

 Yes, you (like most people) may make a silly grammar mistake, use a wrong word, or say something that doesn’t make much sense in English. So, what’s wrong with that?

Even native English speakers (like me) make mistakes sometimes, and it’s OK. I am also learning Swiss German (as I live in Zürich, Switzerland) and know how it feels.

The most important thing is to communicate. That means you have a clear message (even with not the most proper English words) and send it to others aiming at a specific outcome. If they understand you, it’s OK. Goal achieved!

You may not have the perfect English pronunciation (really, who has one?), or your vocabulary is not as rich as Shakespeare’s—getting your message across matters the most.

Unfortunately, the fear of failure always finds a way to creep in. It usually stays in the dark corners of your mind and shows up at exactly the perfect timing for it to cause blockages.

A client once told me he practised self-confidence before meetings. Still, when the time came, and he had to open his mouth in front of his colleagues, he immediately visualised them laughing at him (directly or silently) because of his English and froze.

The fear of failure does that. It constantly tries to make you focus on all the possible outcomes or scenarios, usually the dire ones.

In this article, I will try to debunk the myths about the fear of failure, break it down to its real components (fear & failure), show you the signs and reasons you feel like that, and give you 7 handy tips for overcoming it for good.

What’s fear, and how can you define failure in your case?

If you don’t know what it is you must fight up against, you can’t succeed in doing that. So, it’s essential to know what fear is in the first place (and why we, humans, feel it all the time).

Fear is a natural feeling and originates from the early days of humankind. That feeling aims at protecting you from something your mind believes is harmful.

It’s the same with the fear of failure: it tries to protect you from getting embarrassed, laughed at, or bullied for your mistakes when speaking English.

The unknown pulls the mental trigger: What will happen if you open your mouth to speak English at tomorrow’s meeting? You don’t know, so it’s uncomfortable. Perhaps, it’s not going to end well for you, so it’s going to be painful and traumatising.

That’s where fear kicks in to protect you from all this suffering. It does that for a seemingly good reason.

We, humans, always prefer to stay in our comfort zone and feel cosy, safe, and carefree. Anything else gets our body and mind over the top instinctively. Hello, fear!

Now, let’s talk a bit about failure.

What is it in the first place? Is there a universal definition of failure? Is it the same for all people or professionals?

No, it’s not the same. What is failure for me might seem like a success to you. And vice versa.

Failure is a very subjective and depends 100% on the goals.

If your goals are unrealistic and unachievable, you will always face failure.

If your goals are ambitious yet realistic, you will achieve quick wins and small successes that build great progress and success over time.

See the difference? In the same way, if you always set the bar unrealistically high (e.g. I will speak perfect English like a native Brit), you will most likely fail and experience this downfall every moment and day that passes.

To sum up, fear is a natural human feeling to protect you from pain or the unknown, but you have to shift your mindset curiously so that anything new or challenging does not seem like a threat. Plus, you need to work on your goal setting skills ASAP.

How can you know the fear of failure is holding you back? Here are 3 signs!

You don’t know you have a problem until you (or someone else) observes the signs of the fear of failure.

It’s essential to be a little introspective and search deep inside to see if something is “wrong” and why.

Regarding the signs of the fear of failure, they are usually easily detectable.

⚠️ Focus on criticism & what others might think or say

⚠️ Chronic worry & helplessness that also impact your physical health (fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, to name a few)

⚠️ Procrastination & distraction (or lack of focus on the right things)