I have been a perfectionist most of my life. I would literally not do something if I thought there was any chance I wouldn't be successful at it. I didn’t want to take any chances of failing, so I just wouldn’t do it. I took the easy road for years and years, and stayed stuck in the same routines because I refused to try new things based on my fear of failing.

““It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ”

— Theodore Roosevelt

Most of us crave staying in our own comfort zone. We will spend our whole life procrastinating instead of taking action. If you never go outside of your comfort zone though, you slowly die inside. You live a life of regrets because you were too afraid to take that step outside of your comfort zone to accomplish your dreams. You let your fear of failure get in the way of living the life you were meant to live.

Thankfully, a few years ago my views on failure changed. I realized that failing is a part of life. Humans grow in discomfort. Think back on past failures you have had. I bet there was some growth that followed. Failure allows us to think back on what worked and didn’t work. It gives us an opportunity to change things to be more successful the next time.

Any person that we admire for being successful has had a series of failures that lead them to that success. No entrepreneur gets their business right on the first try. I love reading stories of persistent people who became successful. Their stories are always filled with a series of failures. It is how they used that failure to not give up.

I challenge you to think of one area of your life that you have been holding back from accomplishing something you want because of a fear of failure. Take that first step today in achieving that goal. Oftentimes once you get started, it builds confidence to do more. That confidence slowly builds and spills over to other areas of your life. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from reaching your full potential.