Hi Hayley,
I've decided to change my career. I was in an accident years ago and injured my back. Since then, I've taken up yoga and it’s the only thing that has helped tremendously with the pain. I've decided to become a yoga instructor and enrolled in an intense 5 week course. I'm excited to do this, but the thought of failing and not being able to handle the intenseness of this course is weighing on me. How does one overcome the fear of failure?
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Fear of failure is one of my favourite things to talk about as I see it holding back so many people from achieving greatness, including myself.
I have talked about my regrets before when it comes to not trying so I will not go into that again but what you need to understand is that the only time you fail is when you do not try and you listen to the voice inside your head that is saying you cannot do it. A favourite quote of mine that one of my best friends and fellow trainers says is “can’t lives on won't street”. So, get off of won't street and try.
The first steps of signing up for the course and committing to it are done so the rest is easy! Go to the classes, do the homework and practice. Even if you gain nothing more than a better understanding of your pain and your body then you are ahead of where you are now.
It is probably not going to be easy and you will have to sacrifice a lot of things over the next 5 weeks but that is what makes it worth it. And let me tell you something about studying movement -- once you start learning about the body you cannot stop and this course is going to inspire you to learn more. This is just the beginning. This course will open up so many doors you never even dreamt of and then you get to inspire and help others the same way you were inspired, which is the ultimate step in learning a new activity -- teaching others.
All you have to do is understand that the instructors do not expect you to know everything about yoga on the first day of the class as it is their job to teach you. You just have to put in the hard work and believe in your ability to be successful. Ask questions, be ok with making mistakes and allow yourself to be comfortable with not knowing everything. Worse case scenario is you do not pass the course and you have to take it again. As long as you do not give up and you keep trying you will not fail.
