Fear of failing self expectations !!
It’s probably just coincidence. I had the same conversation with two different people, in two different contexts, with their responses to the situation being different, but still the same.
These are people in the age group of 18-25. The challenge - dealing with getting results that are less than what they expected.
Situation 1: Afraid of taking decisions because, if I take a career decision, and it turns out to be “wrong”, then what ?
Situation 2: I put in a lot of effort, expected myself to do well, but the outcome was way below my expectations. So now, i set my expectations low, and feel anything better is just out of pure luck.
The fear of ‘failing’ is visible here.
These people need mentors who can tell them that life is about putting in your best, hoping you will turn out at the top, and if that doesn’t happen, next time you are smarter.
There is no concept of ‘failure’ or ‘a wrong decision’ in life. These are attributes or tags we, as individuals, assign in hind sight, after the event. But if you continuously evaluate, the same event may be a big positive sometime in the future.
Life is all about learning. And learning how to learn is the most important skill.
This is what my Mentees come to me for. And i make it clear on day one. They have to “fail”, as per the definition of the education system. And that will set them up for success in the future.
Your confidence in yourself comes from the fact that you believe you can learn from any situation, not from the belief that you know everything there is to know.
Keep learning. Enjoy the ride.
