Fear of setting goals

I have a fear of setting goals because I'm scared of failure. Our culture is success-orientated and I don't believe we make much room for failure.

However, it is unrealistic to expect success every single time because to err is human. If you are trying something new for the first time, how can you expect to succeed if you have no past experience or prior knowledge to guide you?

The good thing about failing is it allows us to learn more about ourselves: what are our strengths? Weaknesses? What could I do better next time?

And the thing about failure--you will survive! You might be momentarily crushed, but it's not the end of the world. It'll teach you perseverance and persistance--not to give up, but to keep going. Even successful entrepreneurs make big mistakes (check out the May 12-18, 2011 issue of BRW). It's how you pick yourself up after it that counts.

Sometimes, the fear of failure stems from pride: we don't want to look like a fool in front of our peers. In those situations, I need to remind myself, "Who am I trying to please? Is it God, or man? If it's God, then my character and the way I conduct myself matters more than whether I fail or succeed. Even then, God is only pleased with me, because of Jesus and what he's achieved on the cross for me. Therefore I don't need to worry about success or failure, because God is already satisfied with me".

So no more avoiding it. I'm going to set some goals because failing is OKAY.

(By the way, Jillian Michaels says some great things about the fear of failure)