3 Ways for Women to Turn Fear of Failure into Motivation for Action

I have to admit that I was initially shocked by the following two statistics from a 2017 American Express Open report on the state of women-owned businesses in the United States.

Note: This article is from blogger Felena Hanson, who shares her experience turning failure into motivation.

• About 90% of these companies never have full-time employees.
• Only 3% of female founders have crossed the $1 million mark in annual sales.

Given the fact that women experience entrepreneurship at twice the rate of men, it struck me that most of them do not venture into business expansion, are they afraid of the risks involved? Or is it an absolute fear of failure? For many women, the idea of taking responsibility for their own livelihood and the livelihood of others can be daunting, and most of the time, it takes hiring more employees to expand a business beyond the million-dollar mark.

Our upbringing partially influences the answers to these questions. Girls are often encouraged to get along with everyone, and this can easily manifest in people-pleasing where we want everyone to like us. This is in addition to the way the media portrays women as they are more likely to be in a position of control where we learn from childhood that we are the center of attention, so we have to take more care of everything we do.

As a result, women tend to strive for perfection in everything. We often take criticism very personally and learn to keep our heads down to avoid being judged by others. On the other hand, men are encouraged to fail and flop to learn.

I see hundreds of aspiring female entrepreneurs slowly progressing in their businesses, as they don't reveal what they're working on until it's ready and perfect, and in some cases, they don't reveal it at all. We should encourage girls to embrace the saying, “Done is better than perfect.”

Like most women, I never learned how to be ambitious. Instead, I watched my mother put all her efforts into providing for and protecting her family, which was her top priority. She did everything possible to give my siblings and me better opportunities. Women who have kids at home face risks related to family finances, time, and personal reputation when running a business.

Finally, women are taught that they need to work extremely hard to get everything. In my society, I see women handling every aspect of their businesses and they are reluctant to delegate even simple administrative tasks or outsource the management of business operations outside of their areas of expertise, as they will be confused, suffer, and procrastinate before they invest in an external source.

So, how can we overcome our desire for perfection and the influence of public opinion on us? We have to be bold, which we develop by making decisions about things outside our comfort zone. We can start by finding successful women to look up to, recognizing our accomplishments and resilience, and pushing ourselves with confidence.

Ways for Women to Turn Fear of Failure into Motivation for Action

1. Finding Inspiring Women to Follow

Statistically speaking, finding women who are at the top of their professions is more challenging than finding men. Only three of the 25 richest Americans are women, and the percentage of women on the Fortune 500 list is less than 5%. However, they do exist, and finding them will be worth your effort because it will increase your chances of success.

When you find them, check what you are worried about, as you can achieve your goals. Keep in mind that even international actresses like Natalie Portman, Kate Winslet, and Jodie Foster talk about self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Therefore, you are not the only one who experiences this.

Make a list of the qualities that these women have that help them succeed and that you lack. After that, work on advancing them. Just make sure not to be too harsh on yourself, because you may have faced many difficult circumstances and decisions with flexibility and courage. However, your greatest strengths may lie in your lack of experience in these new areas.

American actress Natalie Portman speaks in her commencement speech at Harvard University for the year 2015, about self-confidence, saying:

“Sometimes your insecurities and your inexperience may lead you, too, to embrace other people’s expectations, standards, or values. But you can harness that inexperience to carve out your own path.”

2. Acknowledging Your Achievement and Resilience

Impression is critical, what is your impression of yourself and your efforts? Celebrating what you achieve along the way is one effective way to acknowledge your accomplishments. Another important thing is to look at what you have achieved from a neutral point of view over and over again and to realize that fear is a natural response to the pursuit of what is worthwhile.

This does not mean that you should never be afraid, because we are all vulnerable. Instead, you have to take risks to achieve your goals and be willing to lose comfort as you grow. Also, this means that we must confront our most prominent critic, which is ourselves.

In a speech on human nature, researcher Brené Brown asserts that “because we are so idealistic about who we should be, many of us end up suppressing parts of ourselves that don't fit that perfection.”

Showing those repressed parts of ourselves more often allows us to enhance our courage and strength, and deepen our perspective. Doing a self-evaluation can remind us of our true strengths, which we may have forgotten when fear got in the way.

3. Trusting Your Talents Enough To Push Yourself

Even though women-owned businesses have grown faster than the national average over the past ten years, less than 3% of all female entrepreneurs have $1 million in revenue. One reason is probably the widespread aversion to calculated risk, particularly financial risk.

We need to surround ourselves with people who will push us to expand our business and cheer us on when we complain about our lack of resources or skills. The world is filled with numerous resources and countless opportunities. Therefore, we have to believe we are good enough to claim them and go after them.