How to overcome fear of failure: I'm a Coward.

So I checked. I ran what it would cost to win each customer against industry figures, and the fear held. My plan assumed people would adopt the product with almost no friction, and that friction was real, while about 80,000 dollars in seed money and eighteen months of my life were on the line. I shelved the project, didn't raise the round, and told the person I'd planned to build it with that I was pulling the plug because the numbers didn't hold up. I felt disappointed and deeply relieved at the same time. Both at once.

From chapter 7: When the coward is right

That is why I think calm is the wrong target. The people who love you will probably tell you to relax before your meeting with the bank, and they mean well, but they're sending you to a place your body may not be able to reach in time. Chapter 2 showed you how the feeling you are in bends the odds you see. This is a different fear: the one that's still pounding after you've checked the odds and decided to go.

From chapter 8: Do not calm down

That is how the book looks at “how to overcome fear of failure”: one idea at a time, with a step you can take right away. Of course, this is only one idea from the book. So, if this passage speaks to you, the full chapter goes further, and it ends with an exercise you can do the same evening.

In short, the book has 11 chapters, and each one ends with a practical exercise. Therefore, you can read it in order, or you can go straight to the part about “how to overcome fear of failure”.

1. The safer road
2. Afraid people see different odds
3. Unknown is not unlikely
4. Nobody checked your fear's record
5. The worst case is written in a law you have never read
6. What happened to the people it happened to
7. When the coward is right
8. Do not calm down
9. The price of the safe choice
10. Courage does not delete the fear
11. Beginning while afraid

Finally, you can get I'm a Coward: The Fear of Starting a Business, Checked One Study at a Time in the stores below. Because every title of this book shares the same text, you can simply pick the one you like best. Also, the book is available in 19 languages.

In addition, each title below highlights a different idea from the same book.

• But I'm a Coward: I Want to Start a Business. Find Out Which Fears Are Telling the Truth.
• But I'm a Coward: Eleven Fears About Starting a Business, Checked Against the Evidence
• Am I a Coward?: Find Out Which Fears Are Telling the Truth
• Am I a Coward?: I Want to Start a Business, and Eleven Fears Are in the Way
• Which Fears Are Telling the Truth?: I Want to Start a Business but I'm a Coward
• Find Out Which Fears Are Telling the Truth: Eleven Fears About Starting a Business, Taken One at a Time
• Starting a Business While Afraid: I Want to Start a Business but I'm a Coward. Find Out Which Fears Are Telling the Truth.
• Starting a Business While Afraid: Find Out Which Fears Are Telling the Truth
• Beginning While Afraid: I Want to Start a Business but I'm a Coward
• Beginning While Afraid: Find Out Which Fears Are Telling the Truth

See all 45 titles. Go to the book page.