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“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” – Albert Einsten

People fear many things – death, heights, insects, rejection, criticism, etc. The fear of failure is perhaps one of the greatest (and most dangerous) fears. For many people, it is much easier to not take risks because risk often translates into failure – whether in their personal lives or in business.

Such a self-limiting view is dangerous because it severely limits what each of us can accomplish. I was reminded of this during the past weekend when I watched Steve Jobs’ 2005 Commencement speech at Stanford University (see video below).

Successful people are successful for many reasons. And among such reasons is this: successful people look at mistakes or failures as opportunities to learn. People who fear failure rarely have such learning opportunities. And very often, even if they do, the fear of failure completely paralyzes them.

If each of us believed that we would not fail at whatever we tried to do, think about how much more we could individually AND collectively accomplish! Overcoming the fear of failure is not easy. But those who have persevered through failure have accomplished many great things (see video below).