How to embrace the fear of failure when working on your big goals.

We see Jim Carrey as an actor and comedian. Some love him, some hate him. For some he is extremely funny, others find him pretty annoying. We might assume he simply enjoys taking funny roles. What Jim Carrey actually enjoys according to him is to free people from concern. This is his purpose: To free people from concern! In “Jim & Carrey: The great beyond” or in his commencement speech at the 2014 MUM Graduation, it becomes apparent to me that Jim Carrey is not only a brilliant actor but a great coach and mentor as well, sharing his wealth of knowledge of life. 

“I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” (Jim Carrey). 

When we stay within our comfort zone, we make ourselves believe that we are safe and rational. We think we are the opposite of foolhardy. In reality this is the riskiest thing we can actually do because we have so much more to loose: Our faith. Acting based on fear and doing day in and day out what we don’t enjoy doing, or don’t enjoy the way we are doing things, will ultimately wear us down. We simply function and experience constant negative stress. Therefore, it is quite logical that we are likely to fail big sooner or later when we continue doing a job that is far below our potential and which frustrates us at the same time. How irresponsible would that be? So isn’t it a better strategy to be honest with ourselves in regards to what we would actually love to do and what we would actually like to achieve? Why not giving it a shot, at least to figure out what that might be?

When you compromise and you fail, it really hurts. It hurts even more than failing at what you love. So that was an example for me." (Jim Carrey) 

Does this sound familiar to you: All of a sudden you have an idea, a vision. It excites you. Very soon there is a voice telling you “Don’t be stupid!” or “That’s not possible!”, “Forget it”. And well, you then forget about it. Where does this voice come from? Did you ever consider to question that voice and to overrule, realising its values and beliefs have become obsolete? Did you ever consider that this voice does not even give you a chance to brainstorm about what you would love to achieve? We need to open up first and allow thoughts to come and go, follow an idea and see where it leads us - with curiosity, not judgement. It is too early to compromise. 

“As far as I can tell, it’s just about letting the universe know what you want and then working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass.” (Jim Carrey)

It is not necessarily the fear of trying something new but not having clarified what it is that we want and how to work towards it. And this makes us hesitant. The thing is: Nobody will do this job for us. It’s our job! Another reason why we might not be ready to move forward is that we want to be sure that this is what we really want and that things are indeed going to turn out fine. But we can’t know that unless we have started to make a move. There is no guarantee. We need to start with our journey and figure things out. And what is the alternative? That everything stays the same? Not making a move when we are obviously not happy and fulfilled sounds like a risky plan to me already. Finally, needing to put effort is another common reason to accept the status quo. We tend to falsely assume that needing to put effort is a sign things are not meant to be and sometimes people assume it’s not worth the effort. How do we know?

Therefore, it is crucial to be honest with ourselves and admit: What do I really want? If everything was possible, what would I want for myself? How would I like to live and work? Then being honest with ourselves regarding what is hindering us to make a move. What are we afraid of? What makes us hesitant? And what if I just embraced the fear and did it anyway? That having fear is not a sign of not pursuing what I have in mind, rather a sign that this project is truly meaningful to me.

Remember,“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” (Albert Einstein) or in Jim Carrey’s words: 

“I like challenges and I don’t believe in failure. I don’t believe in regrets. I believe suffering, failure – all those concepts – are things that are absolutely necessary to make us the best people that we can be, the best at whatever we want to do.”

Wish you a great journey!