How to Overcome the Fear of Failure

Missional leaders take note: LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman in his book The Start-up of You writes:

“Uncertainty never goes away. Fear of failure never goes away. The way to feel comfortable with these entrepreneurial strategies is to have one plan in your life that’s highly certain. That’s Plan Z: a reliable plan you shift to when you no longer have confidence in Plan A and B, or when your plans get severely disrupted. The certainty of the Plan Z backstop is what enables you to be aggressive — not tentative — about Plans A and B. With a Plan Z, you’ll at least know you can tolerate failure. Without it, you could be frozen in fear contemplating the worst-case scenarios.”

So, what’s your Plan Z?