Welcome back to another episode of Arnold's Pump Club. We took a little break because even though we used the power of machines for these episodes, they still require a good amount of time to put together. Daniel was busy having a baby and Adam got sick. But now we are back and I'm going to start by catching you up on a topic that deserves multiple podcast episodes. Today, I want to talk about failure. You have all heard me say a thousand times.
I'm afraid of failure, but many of you have told me you can't overcome the fear. So I want to start your week by talking about how your fear holds you back and what you can do to make failure your friend instead of your greatest fear.
So I'm going to try something new and do a series on losing your fear of failure. Today will be the first part and I'll follow up with another part tomorrow. And then I'll continue the series next week. But don't worry, we'll keep up putting out our normal Pump Club episodes each day. I'll share a lesson and some homework for you.
My goal with this series is to help you break through that wall in your mind, holding you back from finding your true potential. I know that all of you have made amazing progress here in the newsletter and in the pump app. I see it every single day in your comments and emails. Some of you have lost 20, 30, 50, 100 pounds. Some of you have doubled your strength.
Some of you have found that resistance training has given you a better life with less pain. Some of you have had friends and family notice and compliment the changes in your bodies. So proud of all of you. But I also see in everything you tell me that even with all these wins, many of you still haven't shaken that fear of failure. I don't want you to feel bad about it or beat yourself up. It is a completely natural fear.
It is probably wired into our brains from ancestors who had to worry about being eaten by some big cat or eating the wrong plant and dying a horrible death. We all want safety. But we all need to learn that the safety wired into our brains doesn't apply to most of what we actually do in our lives. If you're climbing a mountain, you should worry about your safety. If you're jumping out of a plane, you should worry about safety.
If you work with wild animals, you should worry about safety. Those things can be dangerous. If you don't take precautions. In those cases, failure can kill. If you're thinking about starting a diet, if you're in your gym wondering if you should increase the weight you lifted from last week. If you're working on a vision for a big goal, if you're wondering about talking to that person, you've got a crush on. If you're deciding to apply for a dream job, these are not the same type of threat.
Please tell me, where is the danger? What is the worst thing that can happen? But so many people hold back because they surrender to that part of their brain that thinks any failure in life is as deadly as being bit by a snake. They might have even failed before and felt a little embarrassed.
They don't step back and ask themselves that question, what's the worst thing that can happen? In most cases, the worst thing that can happen if you fail when you're starting a diet, when you're lifting a new weight, when you're creating a vision, when you're making a move on your crush, when you're applying for a job, is that you just end up back where you started. That's right. The worst thing is the status quo. You're living that now. So what are you really afraid of?
The first step to getting rid of failure is reminding yourself over and over of the worst thing that can happen. You won't fall off a cliff. Most of the time, the fathers you can fall is back to where you started. Whatever your goals are, it's time to do a serious risk assessment.
Not the risk assessment where your brain lies to you and tells you failure will be fail. A real risk assessment of what you are afraid of because when you really think about it, when you do the work to be honest with yourself, I think you're going to find that your fears are completely overblown, that your mind is playing tricks on you. That's okay. It happens to all of us. Our brains want comfort. Going after our big goals is never going to be comfortable.
We just have to work to overcome the tricks our brains play on us. The first step is educating ourselves about what the real risk actually is. If you apply for your dream job and fail, you'll still be here tomorrow. In fact, you'll probably be exactly where you are right now. That isn't that bad. That isn't a huge risk. If you try to learn a new language, you've wanted to learn and put off because you're afraid you fail and your fear comes true. Be honest about what actually happens.
It's not like you forget how to speak the language. You speak now. You still have that ability. If you finally commit to your diet and fail, you're no worse off. Even if the diet doesn't work, if you're being honest with yourself, you can figure out why I didn't work and get close to figuring out what will work for you. This is how life works. You confront your fear. You do something about it. You succeed or fail.
Either way, you're better off because you did something instead of nothing. The first step to losing your fear of failure is sitting down and being honest about the actual risk. Today's homework is an honest risk assessment. Think about the goal that you put off because you're afraid of failing. Then sit down and write down the worst things that can happen if you do fail.
I guarantee you that it won't be as bad as you think. I know some of you might be thinking, Arnold, what about the embarrassment? Doesn't that bother you? For now, I don't want you to even think about embarrassment. I'll cover that tomorrow. Instead, remember my focus principle. Do the homework and determine the absolute worst thing that can happen if you do fail without being dramatic about it. That will be the first step to overcoming your fear of failure and living up to your potential.
That's it for today's episode. I created this podcast because I believe that fitness is for everyone. I'm using the power of machines to help me deliver news, information, and support that will make you healthier. I am not a cybernetic organism, but I do have an important mission to build the positive corner of the internet and lift up the world. There's too much negativity online. And I want this podcast to give you the support you need to become a little bit better.
I want to thank our editors and chief Adam Boenstein and Daniel Ketchle who helped me with this podcast in our daily newsletter, as well as our producers, Penn Name Consulting. We value all your feedback and the three of us are here to support you. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review. We love hearing from you. Together, we have the strength to lift up the world.