Mindset of Success

                      

               Photo by Pavel Kuznetsov

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: The Fear of Failure."

Paolo Coelho

The One Thing Holding Your Dream Hostage (I will give you a Hint: It’s Not Your Alarm Clock)

Picture this scenario: You’ve got a dream. Maybe it’s writing a novel, launching a food truck empire, or finally taking that momentous leap into a new career. You can almost feel it. But then—all of the sudden—you’re hit with a case of the “what-ifs.” What if I’m not good enough? What if I fail miserably? What if my food truck catches fire for a number of crazy reasons? And suddenly, that dream gets placed into the far corners of your mind, right next to your forgotten New Year’s resolutions and that guitar you swore you'd learn to play.

Paulo Coelho, in his bestselling novel *The Alchemist*, drops a truth bomb that’s simple, but oh-so-powerful:  

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

Think about that for a moment and let it sink in.🤔

It’s not your lack of money, experience, time, or connections. It’s not the Sun giving out solar flares again or your nosey cat sitting on your keyboard while you try to be productive. It comes down to fear. That sneaky little voice in your head whispering, “What if this doesn’t work out?”

Now, let’s be honest. Failure gets a bad reputation. We treat it like an end-of-the-world event, when really, it’s more like tripping over on the sidewalk in public—embarrassing, of course, but you dust yourself off and keep walking. Every wildly successful person you admire from afar has a blooper reel of failures longer than a Netflix series. Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first TV job. Steve Jobs was kicked out of his own company. And Colonel Sanders? That guy heard “no” over a thousand times before someone finally agreed to try his fried chicken recipe. 

Here’s the thing: Fear of failure isn’t trying to ruin your life on purpose. It’s just your brain being overprotective, like a helicopter parent in your head. It wants to keep you safe in your comfort zone, wrapped in protective bubble wrap, sipping warm tea. But your dreams? They actually don’t live there. They’re out in the wilderness, where things are uncertain and a little terrifying—but in the end are also exciting and full of possibility.

So how do you do a heartfelt break up with fear? First, call it out. Recognize when it’s crawling in disguised as “logical” or “just being realistic.” Then, you take action anyway. Start with small steps if you have to. Write one page of that novel. Post your first silly food truck video. Apply for that job even if you’re less than 70% qualified. Every little step chips away at fear’s power.

And here’s a healthy twist: failure isn’t even the worst scenario. The worst outcome is never trying, spending your life wondering what could have been, and settling for a boring version of life that feels like a knockoff brand of what you REALLY wanted.

So next time fear tries to crash your dream party, politely tell it to take a sit in the back row—and then go dance like no one’s watching (except maybe your cat, who already thinks you’re awesome).

Dream big. Fail forward. And remember: everything in life tastes better when they come with a side of risk.

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