How Fear & Failure Can Motivate You -

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end.” – Denis Waitley.

Are you afraid of failure? I am. In fact, I’m afraid of a lot of things and failure is often at the root of them. What will my friends and family think? What if I lose all my money? What if I have to start over? What if I can’t pay my bills? What if no one reads my blog or likes my ad or follows me on Instagram?

These are just a few of the thoughts that buzz around in my head when I think about stepping out on my own and supporting myself solely through my businesses. This fear has paralyzed me at some points & it’s propelled me at others.

Fear is one of our greatest motivators. Fear is what has kept us humans alive generation after generation. Fear triggers our fight or flight responses. But the way we can utilize fear in today’s modern world is so incredibly different than how the cave dwellers used fear.

I love how Rachelle Williams, Chopra Center Vedic Educator, breaks down the world fear into an acronym.

False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

Like everything in life, fear and failure is all about perspective. We have to stop letting it hold us back and start letting it move us forward. Failure is simply hard evidence that you are trying. You are in the ring and in the fight. The people in the stands have no right to judge you at that point.

You can’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.

Some people see my life on Instagram and think it’s picture perfect. That my house is always clean and my hair is always done, that my business is booming and that I’m doing what I love day in and day out. But guys, you are only seeing a tiny sliver of the story. You don’t see the 6 years of blood, sweat & tears that I’ve gone through to get to where I am today.

I like to think I’m still in my beginning because I am SO far away from where I want to be, but I do have a lot of failure under my belt. And that failure was so, so, completely necessary for me to get to where I am with my life and business today.

Fall, fail & get up again

This blog right here, that you are currently reading, is my SIXTH blog. Count em’ on your fingers (you will need two hands). I’ve launched FIVE other blogs before this one. First, I launched a blog called Xperience Digital. It was horrid you guys. Then, I tried blogging about dogs, religion, thrifting and digital marketing again. Each time, creating an entirely new website. Some of the blogs even had a social media presence. I was lucky if my grandma read one post. Nothing seemed to stick. I tried and failed and tried and failed. Miranda Schroeder is lucky blog number six.

Today, I can confidently say that this blog is here to stay. I FINALLY created a platform that I am proud of. One that teaches, inspires, connects, and informs women from all around the world. If I would have thrown in the towel after Xperience Digital flopped, this blog wouldn’t be here.

Screw fear & failure

Fear of failure can stand in your way. It can freeze you. Stop you in your tracks. Prevent you from diving into a crazy dream OR it can make you stand up, like the bad ass woman you are, look at a big, hairy audacious goal straight in the eye, and get to work.

Listen, you WILL fail. If you aren’t failing on the way to chasing your dreams, you aren’t trying enough. The important part is to take every failure, turn it into a lesson, and KEEP GOING. When you fail, you have to get back up.