Self-Determination: The Key to Overcoming the Fear of Failure and Self-Doubt

When Arnold Schwarzenegger left the bodybuilding industry and embarked into acting – he boldly declared that he was going to be one of the most famous actors in the world. And he did it.

He became the most in-demand actor in Hollywood, a main actor in over 52 movies including The Terminator, and has a net worth of over US$ 450 million (Biography).

Then let’s talk of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, the first United States company to be worth a trillion dollars. Steve was asked what drove him to pursue such crazy goals and big dreams.

Without any self-doubt, his response was “I want to put a dent on the universe.”

In other words, he wanted to make sure that one day when the history of mankind is told, the era he lived should be a point or dent in time when humanity most rapidly progressed -  due to his influence.

Just like Arnold – Steve did it.

Adolf Hitler was twelve years old when he bitterly told his mom “Mom, one day I’m going to change the world!”

And he did it.

Yes, so many people lost their lives in his reign, but to him – his crazy dream didn’t just remain a dream. He dreamt it and did it.

It seems these guys had this ability to bend reality to their will. They had self-determination, the ability to ride on time and make time take them wherever they wanted, so much that years later you will find them dropping off at the very same accomplishment they said they would be years before.

They had the power to be what they desired. A power all of us wish to have.

If each of us had that power, our dreams would come true (and maybe our politicians would use it to fulfill their promises).

We plan and promise like God yet we haven’t mastered the art of creating like He does.

This article shows you the power of self-determination, and how you can use it to overcome the fear of failure and self-doubt.

Most people go through life with a sense of helplessness. A feeling that their life is too complicated and their world is to messed up to be changed.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes thinking about your biggest dreams and goals, is followed by a heavy feeling of self-inadequacy? A sense of self-doubt that lingers like a scary shadow in your soul.

You know you want to be that great person or achieve that goal, but you don’t feel like you have what it takes to make it happen.

The factors that seem out of your control are so many that the dream feels like a fantasy and hope sounds foolish.

What makes people like Steve and Arnold so different from most people? What is their secret to self-confidence and self-determination?

The real question should be, what makes most people so different from Steve and Arnold?

Shattering the Illusion of Fate

The first problem is – most people believe in fate.

Many people believe that “whatever will be will be.”

Believing in fate means you think that circumstances and factors that dictate the outcome of your life have already been arranged.

Some religions actually teach you that.

They wrongfully call it “God’s plan” or “predestination.” It is taught as “whatever will be, will be.” Unfortunately,

Those who see themselves as weak will act like it.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

That’s why studies show that the most religious nations are the poorest.

A weak mind never prospers, and a mind is weakened by the types of beliefs it carries.

Belief in fate is the killer of dreams and the stealer of enthusiasm.

People who change the world are just people who are crazy enough to think they can.

Most people see themselves as products of their circumstances, but great achievers see their circumstances as products of their own selves.

They live life with a sense of self-determination, an understanding that a human has the power to bend reality.

All the problems in this world were created by people who were trying to solve theirs.

So when Steve Jobs and Arnold Schwarzenegger say they are going to achieve their dreams or change the world:

They don’t mean that it’s going to be easy.

They understand that it doesn’t have to be easy.

The people who changed the world before you, don’t need to make it easy for you to change the changes they made. They benefit from their changes, just as you will benefit from yours.

So stop wishing to change your life and the world should be easy. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.

We don’t pursue things because they are easy, we pursue them for the very reason that they are hard.

They don’t mean that the circumstances will be perfect.

Yes, circumstances may be against them, but they believe that circumstances can be changed.

Those that can’t be changed can be circumnavigated, the same way you don’t let a mountain block your way by going around it.

The future is NOT set in stone; you can create your own path.

Sometimes you have to go through the mountain, sometimes above it but most times around it.

Just know that going around it is just as genius as going through it, what matters is ending up at the other side.

Most circumstances are like mountains, you don’t need to fight them to get to the other side, you only need to find a way to go around them.

What makes such a fruitful view of life so uncommon?

If we have the liberty to believe anything, why do we believe what breaks us rather than builds us?

4 Reasons Why We Hold on to Self-Doubt and Fear of Failure

1. Your Mind is Addicted to Certainty

Following your dreams feels like stepping into the unknown, (because it actually is).

You are leaving what you have, going for something you don’t yet have.

You are stepping into a world that you have never been.

New places are confusing places and the human mind hates being confused.

The human mind interprets confusion as being dumb, yet confusion is just a sign that you have stepped into a place that you have never been.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

Even a person you regard as super intelligent feels confused in a new place.

Confusion is NOT caused by a lack of intelligence, it's caused by newness.

Confusion is NOT a sign of low intelligence, it is actually a sign of courage to step into places you have never been and try things you have never done.

2. You have experienced failure too many times to believe in success

I don’t like it when people say I should celebrate failure.

Failure is only easy to celebrate after you finally succeed.

Otherwise, any failure that finds you on your way to success hurts, simple.

It doesn’t feel like history; neither does it feel like something that connects you to your success.

It is running away from this pain of failure that keeps us as far away from pursuing our dreams as possible.

It’s easy to think that you can avoid failure by refusing to try.

That’s why in my book Life Capsules for Success I wrote that,

It’s better to try and fail than fail to try. The failure to try is the worst kind of failure because you don’t learn anything from that failure.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

Successful people know that failing doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you one step smarter.

The truth is, your mind has just learned one of the ways that don’t work. And knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what works to succeed in life.

Overcoming the fear of failure takes knowing that:

When the mind fails long enough, it starts to see the way.

Failure is NOT the opposite of success, it’s part of it.

3. Your Mind Could Be Addicted to Comfort

How would you feel?

If I were to tell you that you lost your future husband or wife because of your lack of seriousness in love, or you missed that business or career opportunity because you lack a sense of urgency for important things in your life…

How would you feel?

No, don’t say angry or upset – because that’s NOT the basic emotion that you would feel.

You will feel hurt and wounded, and all the anger that you will throw at me is an attempt to shut me from ever speaking words that wound your soul ever again.

Your defensive tantrums will be you working hard to maintain a “comfortable” space for your soul.

But if I tell you that you lost everything that you lost because “it was never meant to be.” You will make me your best friend. You will be smiling and grinning from one ear to the other.

Blaming something else for your life creates comfort.

But I rather hurt you with the truth than comfort you with a lie.

You don’t change the world to change your life, you change your life to change the world.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

It’s changing what you do in this world that changes what you get from it.

4. You Underestimate Your Potential

You doubt your ability to achieve your dreams because you don’t know who you really are.

You don’t know that you are the strongest and most intelligent being on the planet.

NOT knowing that weakens your sense of self-determination and creates self-doubt.

Your human body and brain are more powerful than you think and it can do far more than you ever tried.

The horse is stronger than any man, but still, a man tames it.

The elephant has the power to uproot trees and knock over trucks, but still, people tame it and ride it.

Even to this day, among the Bushman of the Kalahari Desert, there are young men known for chasing the lion back into its den.

This should teach you that,

The universe you live in was created submissive to humanity.

Nature, no matter how great or small, strong or weak - bows to you.

You have nothing to fear because deep inside, everything you fear actually fears you.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

If five strong men work for one physically weak boss, that weak boss is the strongest of them all.

That’s because in a moment of danger, each strong man can only summon his own power, but that weak boss can summon the power of all those five men.

The boss is stronger than them because their strength serves him. The five men are strong yes, but they are strong FOR him.

The same goes for you...

You are stronger than what's stronger than you; because everything strong around you is actually strong FOR you.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

Its strength belongs to you.

The strength of herbs can give you medicine

The strength of a running river can give you electricity

The strength of the dog protects you from burglars

The strength of time exposes lies and reveals the truth

Your job is to learn to tap from nature's strength and use it as a resource to change your life and the life of the world around you.

Take back your life from the hands of fate. Stop believing that there is a pre-ordained path that acts as a limit for who you can be.

Fear nothing, tame everything.

Everything is yours.

Conclusion

You are not destined to merely exist. You were born to rewrite the script, to reshape the world in your image, and to bend fate to your will.

- MOFFAT MACHINGURA

Don’t let the fear of failure rob you of the opportunity to express who you are, because this world is your platform and this lifetime is that opportunity.

Don’t doubt yourself, doubt your doubts. Banish self-doubt. If your brain asks “What if it doesn’t turn out right?” ask yourself “What if it actually does?”