Writer at work

By Staci McLean on Friday, November 20, 2020

I finished writing my new book today. Every book has been a journey. It is bit like having a baby. It is something you carry around with you for months, sometime even longer. Then the process of actually siting down and writing is like going into labour. It is tiring and painful in many ways and also includes many sleepless nights.

The most scary part of the process comes much later, after you have picked up the books from the printers and you send it out your readers. Because it is your baby and has been such a huge part of your life, it contains your heart and soul and often personal stories, you are intimately connected to it. You hope the readers understand your message and enjoy your work.

We all have projects that we work on that we send out into the world and risk rejection and criticism. It is not a comfortable feeling opening yourself up to that feedback. Even on this my 4th book, I still doubt myself and worry people will not like it. It is not something you get use to or that goes away, but instead you learn to ignore those doubts and refused to let them stop you.

It would be easier not to try or to risk feeling uncomfortable but if you never try, you can never succeed or grow. You might risk failing, you might be risking criticism, but you are also setting yourself on the path to success, to victory and impacting peoples lives for the better. Doesn’t that make it worth it?

“Fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies of human potential.”

Brian Tracy

Confidence and Self esteem

Failure is not fatal

By Staci McLean on Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Stop letting your fear of a failure hold you back

For many people, the ‘fear of failure’ is the number one reason for not stepping out or creating something new or trying something they have never done before or to pursue a dream. The fear of failure can stop more people than the fear of the actual activity. It is not so much the jumping out of the plane that is terrifies us but the fear of the parachute failing.

What if you have already tried and tried again? It is even scarier to try once more after you have already ‘failed’.

The problem is not the fear of failure or the failure itself, but our concept of what failure is. Failure is simply when something we did, does not meet our expectations. The problem is not in the failure but in our expectations.

Life lesson – things will usually NOT go as planned or turn out as you expect, that is ok. As soon as you accept this and adjust your expectations the sooner your concept of failure will adapt. Failure is just information collection. You tried, it did not work out as expected, what can you learn?

I have learnt that what I expect to happen and what I think success is, is often at odds to what God has planned for me and God’s plan is always so much better than what I could have thought of.

I might feel like it was a failure and I feel disappointed and discouraged, but God had planned for me to learn and grow. Through my ‘failures’ I have learnt perseverance, patience, grit, obedience, courage, determination, joy and humour. My faith, confidence and trust in God has strengthened and my knowledge of myself and my purpose is stronger. I gain more from a failure than a success.

Reduce the fear of failure by reducing your perception of the risk. For most things we do, the risk is not as high as we think. We might risk some discomfort, some inconvenience, or some embarrassment, but what we will gain in personal growth, character development and drawing closer to God is invaluable.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston S. Churchill

Power words

Courage

By Staci McLean on Thursday, June 25, 2020

Courage is not the absence of fear but taking action despite your fear. To be courageous is to be willing to deal with the dangerous, the difficult and the unpleasant things in life.

I love the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz. He was afraid of everything, because of his fears he thought he needed the Wizard to give him ‘Courage’, yet when it came to protecting his friends he was willing to pounce into danger even though he was terrified, he had the courage all along.

Courage stands up for the people we care about and for our values and what we believe. ‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.’ Nelson Mandela

Tag Archives: fear

Writer at work

“Fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies of human potential.”

Failure is not fatal

Stop letting your fear of a failure hold you back

Courage