Personal growth and the fear of failure paradigm May 6, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Fear and Anxiety.Tags: achieving goals, fear of failure, overcoming anxiety, personal development, personal growth, philosophy, self-improvement, Seth Godin, visualization
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Paradoxically, one of the main reasons we may feel the need to start a program of personal growth and development can also be a factor in why we find it difficult to make progress.
Namely, fear of failure.
We are afraid or anxious about trying new approaches to solving life-situation problems because we fear that we might not be as successful as we need to be in our efforts. And so, we may turn to the concept of personal growth for help.
And yet, even though we intellectually see the need in our lives for a systematic approach to self-improvement, on an emotional level we avoid making the full commitment to our program in the fear that it might not turn out well.
Much has been written about how we can reduce or eliminate fear of failure in our lives.
However, it’s difficult to “will” a strong emotion, such as anxiety or fear out of our minds.
Perhaps what we need to do is recognize our anxiety, understand the fear of failure motivating it, and then do what we need to do regardless of, or in spite of, our anxiety.
At the same time, it could also be productive to make an effort to anticipate positive outcomes in our minds with the challenges we are facing.
Seth Godin succinctly describes the paradigm of fear and success in relation to completing or shipping personal projects:
“I define non-clinical anxiety as, ‘experiencing failure in advance.’ If you’re busy enacting a future that hasn’t happened yet, and amplifying the worst possible outcomes, it’s no wonder it’s difficult to ship that work.” (1)
As we continue to work on our program, and start to accomplish goals in spite of our fears, we may well become more confident in our ability to make continued progress in our overall personal growth.
(1) You can read more from Seth Godin on his blog at the following URL:
Carl Jung’s personal self-development experiences May 5, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Concept of personal growth.Tags: analytic psychology, Carl Jung, personal development, personal development potential, personal growth, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, self-improvement
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The psychiatrist Carl Jung’s exploration of the psychology of the self-actualization or individuation process was a journey of self-discovery as much as it was a scholarly contribution to a better understanding of human behaviour.
As part of his study of the psychology involved in the human condition, Jung analyzed his own dreams and carefully evaluated his personal emotions and attitudes. His view was that understanding his own psychological make-up could better help him understand human behaviour on a more universal level.
This personal aspect of Carl Jung’s approach to his work in analytic psychology is explored in two books that I reviewed in an earlier article on this website; namely, the autobiographical Memories, Dreams, Reflections and Gerhard Wehr’s An Illustrated Biography of C.G. Jung.
Both of these books reveal the personal side of Jung and explore the ways in which his personal experiences influenced the development of his psychological theories.
I have recently added some detailed updates to the original article that emphasize more specifically the influence of Jung’s personal experiences on his work.
Following is the URL link for the article:
Personal Development Ideas 