How many times has the fear of making a mistake stopped you from doing something that could radically change your life? And in a positive way. How many times have you regretted being afraid and missing out on the opportunities you were looking forward to? Probably everyone can give a couple of examples of such cases.
I wonder if we could learn to walk as children if we were constantly afraid of falling? Is it possible to learn to swim without taking off a life jacket? Ice skating without letting go of dad's hand? Hardly. To achieve anything, you need to overcome the paralyzing power of fear.
Description of the pathology
Fear of failure is indeed most often born in childhood, and as a person grows up, the fear of doing something wrong remains, and the person does not know how to overcome it.
It is not always possible to receive a positive assessment of your work or actions. Sometimes you have to listen to criticism and fail. A confident and developed person copes with criticism and failures quickly enough.
Others only increase the fear of failure, trying to avoid such actions in the future. It turns out the following: having experienced failure in some matter, in order to overcome his fear, a person no longer takes up this matter. It comes to the point that making coffee for him is a serious task, in which the main thing is not to fail. That is, there is a complete isolation of a person from society and a pathological fear of failure.
Fear of mistakes is scientifically called atychiphobia. This is one of the most common phobias in the modern world. In psychology, it is customary to classify the fear of making a mistake as a social class of fears, since the fear of making a mistake is born and modified under the influence of society.
A person who is overcome by the fear of making a mistake may completely give up trying to do anything, since he will consider it unsuccessful in advance. In turn, a person who is afraid of making mistakes will gradually fall down the social ladder, since self-improvement and career growth scare her.
Errors from a neuroscience perspective
There is reason to believe that errors play a decisive role not only in the process of learning and acquiring skills, but also in how high the neuroplasticity of the brain is. Moreover, such an approach can turn the concept of man upside down and place him in an evolutionary perspective, thereby freeing him from the perspective of theology in which he has traditionally been placed.
The biological basis of learning is neuronal plasticity. This concept refers to the nervous system's ability to change the strength of synapses—the connections between neurons.
The main theory with which the concept of neuroplasticity is now explained was developed by the American psychologist Donald Hebb. According to Hebb's theory, the basis for our brain's ability to change is a change in the strength of synapses, that is, the connections between neurons.
Hebb's rule states: if two neurons are active at approximately the same time, their connections are strengthened (Cells that fire together, wire together).
The process by which synaptic connections between neurons are strengthened is called long-term potentiation.
It is long-term potentiation that is considered a key process in explaining neuroplasticity. Although it is known that modification of synaptic strength also includes the process of its inhibition - long-term depression. However, if, when considering the topic of neuroplasticity, it is considered mandatory to mention potentiation, then depression of synapses is either talked about secondarily or not talked about at all.
Modification of the strength of neuronal connections involves both their strengthening and weakening. We tend to forget about this second aspect, because we are accustomed to considering generative processes as key, and degenerative processes as secondary.
However, in the history of neuroscience there have been attempts to overthrow the general perspective. Some researchers argue that long-term depression should be considered a key process underlying learning and memory formation.
The general logic here is that the configuration of the existing body of knowledge in the human brain would remain unchanged if neural connections did not have the ability to weaken and eventually disappear. In other words, a mechanism for learning and knowledge formation, synaptic plasticity necessarily includes the ability to weaken synaptic connections.
Thus, the American engineer James S. Albus, who worked on the creation of a model of the cerebellum, suggested that “the storage of patterns should be carried out mainly by weakening synaptic weights, and not by strengthening them.”
English scientist Richard Dawkins believes that selective death of neurons may underlie memory storage. French neuroscientist Jean-Pierre Changeux states in his book Neuronal Man that “learning means stabilizing pre-established synaptic combinations and eliminating excesses.”
In their article Learning from Mistakes, scientists Dante Cialvo (Argentina) and Per Bak (Denmark) moved further along this path. According to them, the way we understand biological mechanisms today is due to our tendency towards teleological (that is, the assumption that everything that happens has an ultimate purpose) thinking. It does not allow us to reconfigure our thinking so that it is beneficial for the process being studied, and does not serve our convenience.
Cialvo and Buck reconsidered the conventional wisdom that learning necessarily requires synaptic strengthening and that long-term potentiation is a key process:
“While it is conceivable that long-term potentiation is a defining phenomenon for information storage and that long-term depression may exist simply to reset long-term potentiation, it should be noted that it is also conceivable that the opposite may be true.”
Scientists have proposed a framework for understanding neural learning processes that turns everything upside down, arguing that it is the reduction of synaptic activity that is the fundamental dynamic mechanism, and potentiation plays only an auxiliary role. It is long-term depression that has a formative force.
“The belief in Hebbian reinforcement has long influenced research, preventing the objective study of alternative scenarios. We argue that negative reinforcement is important and that any positive reinforcement reduces adaptive capacity."
Causes of atychiphobia
Fear of embarrassment can be caused by completely different reasons. The predominant reason remains the person’s existing negative experience. Because of the fear of failure, a person projects the experience of one incident onto all of his possible experiences.
Some people experience that kind of fear of failure that they don’t even want to think about the possibility of trying something and starting something. This stereotypical form of thinking, as it seems to a person, protects him from mistakes. In fact, she prevents any movement in his life.
Fears of failure can also arise when an activity is assessed only by its effectiveness, without taking into account a person’s own rhythms and qualities. As a result of such a one-sided assessment, a specific label is assigned to the activity - failed or achieved success. There is nothing in between these two labels.
The reasons why people are afraid to do any activity can be:
- Connection with childhood fear, when in childhood the child was severely punished for any mistakes.
- The inability to make mistakes in a group, ridicule of any mistake - most often the inability to overcome fear arises in a group of teenagers, at school or college.
- Many fears are also driven by social fears imposed by the environment - a person begins to fear that if he is worse than others, he will be rejected.
Correct goal setting
Very often, fear of failure causes a person to have difficulty setting goals. However, it is easier to develop the skill of setting goals than to start fighting the fear of making mistakes. Correct goal setting helps a person figure out what exactly he wants, as well as find the optimal path to fulfill his desire.
It is believed that an effective way to motivate yourself to start moving towards a goal is visualization. However, research results show that if a person is in the grip of fear of failure, it is not recommended to use this technique: once he begins to visualize his success, he can become even more entrenched in his fears of failure and give up any attempts to implement his plans.
What's the best thing to do?
If the fear of failure is too great, start with small goals that you are sure to be able to achieve. However, the goal should not be too easy, otherwise you will not have the joyful feeling of overcoming that helps build confidence in your abilities.
For example, if you are planning to create a computer game, do not immediately set yourself the goal of achieving a result. Start by developing the simplest prototype.
Here's how Fallout author Tim Kane describes one of the plots at the initial stage of development:
It all starts in modern reality, then the hero goes to prehistoric times, kills a monkey, which was supposed to turn into a human in the process of evolution, and then goes into space. On a planet that lives according to the laws of fantasy, he magically moves to an alternative Earth, where intelligent beings evolved from dinosaurs, and from there he returns to the real world and saves his beloved.
But this concept was not destined to come true. Instead of this global project, the developers focused on one simple idea: a normal hero acts in an abnormal world, and the inhabitants of this world perceive themselves as the norm. Gradually, this idea transformed and acquired a visual embodiment in the form of a world after a nuclear apocalypse.
Will Smith calls this approach to planning the “one brick at a time” principle and illustrates it very clearly:
When you start building a wall, you don't think, "Now I'm going to build the tallest, grandest, greatest wall ever." You just start laying bricks. You place each one as best you can. Behind him is the next one, and another, and another... And so on day after day. In the end, it turns out that your wall is ready!
The “one brick at a time” principle allows you to gain confidence in your own abilities and concentrate on tasks that a person can take control of, without thinking about the frighteningly global scale of the entire project as a whole.
Of course, even small tasks should be related to your main goal. For example, this could be mastering certain skills, gaining knowledge that will be useful for the implementation of your big plan. Don’t forget to record the results, pay attention to each “brick”, then you will have more starting opportunities for analysis and setting more general tasks on the way to building your “wall”.
Manifestations of Fear
Atychiphobia is expressed in quite a few different ways. What is characteristic of fear in this pathology can be described as follows:
- Self-isolation - a person is afraid to participate in any events, especially public ones, closing himself in his comfort zone.
- Self-sabotage - fearing that he will do something wrong, a person subconsciously undermines his strength and efforts.
- Immobility - in order not to do something wrong, a person decides to do absolutely nothing and not strive for anything.
- Lack of self-confidence - fearing to make a mistake, a person assures himself that all the things he has done and the knowledge he has acquired are worthless.
- Perfectionism is the desire to be the best in everything and always hold a leadership position, the desire to work only in the area in which a person is completely confident.
Learn to juggle
When IDEO founder David Kelley came across a book for aspiring jugglers, Juggling for the Complete Klutz by John Cassid, one thing struck him:
Almost half of this manual, unlike other similar books, was not devoted to teaching how to throw and catch balls; it did not tell how to measure the force of throwing and the weight of an object. It was devoted to how to develop the skill of dropping a ball. At first glance, this is terribly stupid. In fact, having gotten used to the fact that the ball will certainly fall, the brain stops perceiving this as a “mistake” or “failure.” He gets used to the fact that the ball falling is normal and stops sending alarm signals to the muscles, causing them to tense unnecessarily.
David Kelly decided that this approach is the most effective in general for any learning anything. Indeed, train yourself to think that mistakes are normal and inevitable.
Physical symptoms of the disease
Fear of failure is not just a mental manifestation. This pathology is also characterized by a number of physical conditions of a person. There is a rapid heartbeat, for example, when a person seems to be approaching the collapse of his affairs. Possible pain in the heart.
Due to panic fear, it is difficult to breathe, there is a burning sensation in the chest, shortness of breath, nausea and muscle spasms. Diarrhea is possible. Sometimes nervous excitability increases, while in some, on the contrary, stiffness and closedness are possible.
There is increased sweating, chills, and a feeling of heat or cold. In some cases, hallucinations are possible, more often auditory.
How to get rid of a phobia
This fear significantly reduces a person’s quality of life, interferes with his self-development and professional activities, personal life and networking. Therefore, assistance in advanced cases should be provided by a specialist.
- Don't be afraid to remember the moments when fear first appeared. It is necessary to analyze the reasons why this or that business did not take place. Even if the cause was inattention or another personal factor, you should not take too much responsibility on yourself.
- The cause of the pathology may be constant ignorance or unknown. To avoid this, you should have a solid theoretical basis before starting any business. Then possible risks will be significantly reduced.
- Learn to refuse if you feel that you cannot cope with any task. Don't take risks unless they are justified.
- Soberly assess the losses that are possible if the task assigned to you is not completed. Missed opportunities sometimes become much greater losses than the feeling of fear.
- Always have a backup plan. This way you will have a safety net that if things go wrong, you will be able to change it. For example, enlist the help of a friend or colleague.
- Be more decisive, any delay will only increase fear. Create a situation in which you cannot retreat.
- Finally, believe that failures happen to absolutely everyone. But the most rational thing is to use them as a springboard for further start and improvement of yourself.
Psychologists use methods of analysis and self-analysis to treat such fear, providing the patient with a thorough examination of the reasons why he considers any enterprise a failure.
A way to get out of your comfort zone
To ensure that getting out of your comfort zone doesn’t seem like something catastrophically important, start with “trifles.” For example, why not pick up a new hobby? Choose an activity that may interest you, but at the same time, is completely new and unusual, unlike what you have ever done before. It could be anything: drawing, playing an instrument, knitting, vocals, wood carving, wicker weaving - in a word, something that cannot be mastered immediately, within one or two lessons.
Naturally, in the process of mastering a new skill, you will encounter failures and mistakes. But this is just your hobby, which means there is no reason to make a tragedy out of every mistake. It’s worth trying again - you want to finally master this skill, right? This “non-serious” attitude will reduce the degree of anxiety about possible failures and will help you learn not to attach too much importance to mistakes. You will gradually get used to the idea that this is normal, as in the example of juggling.
The fear of feeling like a beginner and an amateur will gradually give way to the understanding that mistakes do not interfere with learning new things. Once you reach a certain level of skill, you will gain self-confidence. Over time, this feeling will spread to other, more significant areas of your interests.
And you shouldn’t assume that self-doubt and fear of failure are an innate character trait that cannot be overcome. You have already proven that you are quite capable of this when you acquired the skill of walking at the age of one to one and a half years. At first, you were also scared to stand on your feet and it hurt to fall - but you learned to walk!
After all, devoting at least a few minutes a day to something that can bring you closer to your dreams is a more effective way than just sitting and being afraid that nothing will work out.
