Welcome back to another episode of Arnold's Pump Club. The other day we started a series discussing The Fear Of Failure. If you missed that episode, it was the one before this. Today's topic will be much more valuable if you listen to that topic first. I wanted to discuss The Fear Of Failure because it holds so many of you back and my goal is to help you conquer it.
The last podcast showed you how to evaluate the risks of failure honestly. I hope you did your homework and did your fear loss some of its power when you completed your risk assessment. I also know there is another fear that comes with failure. The threat isn't life-threatening, but so many people make it seem like the downsides are something you can't overcome. When in reality if you fail, you'll probably end up right back where you started instead of falling off a cliff like you imagined.
But we are social creatures and even once you realize you'll be safe, you're probably horrified of being embarrassed of taking a big swing and missing. This is why the second step to conquering your fear of failure is being very honest with yourself. And when you're honest, you will realize that almost no one will care if you fail. When your fear starts to take hold of your emotions and behaviors, it helps to remember that you are not the main character in a movie.
There is very little embarrassment in failure because the reality is that 99% of the world will never know you failed. And the people who do know are almost certainly dealing with their own failures and challenges and don't have time to think about you. Sure, a few of them might laugh at you. But how does that hurt you? More importantly, why should you care about people who are rooting against you anyway?
Why should you spend a second thinking about someone who is that negative? This is why I always tell you to ignore the naysayers. I promise your fear of being embarrassed is completely overblown. But I realize that it might be hard for you to really understand this. So I have some homework that will allow you to test it very quickly. Pick something that takes about 30 seconds that you've been wanting to do. Maybe it's a new personal record on your favorite lift.
Maybe it's one of those hot online word puzzles. Maybe it's a pull up or a push up. Maybe it's a new level of chess. Set up your phone to take a picture of video. Do the thing you've chosen. But this time, don't hold back. Go all out. Tell yourself you don't give a single shit if you can't do it. You're trying your absolute best. If you do it great. Prag on social media if you want. You deserve it. Then pick something harder that might cause you to fail.
Once you fail, post the video or photo on your social media and share what you tried and admitted you failed today. I will absolutely guarantee you that not that many people will see it or care, even though that fear left you paralyzed with embarrassment. But even more than that, I promise you'll be amazed by how many people will be complimenting you and cheering for you to keep trying.
When you finally acknowledge how many people care compared to how many people will enjoy your failure, you can finally let that go and just go for it. That's exactly where you want to be. Living, trying, failing, learning, trying again. And then eventually succeeding because those who don't quit never really lose. They just keep finding new ways to get better and win.
That's it for now. Tomorrow will be back to our regular episodes. And then next week, we'll talk about the real risk of letting your fear of failure win. And that is having to live with regret. And that's it for today's episode. I created this podcast because I believe that fitness is for everyone. So 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 in chief Adam Boenstein and Daniel Ketchall who helped me with this podcast and 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.