In our first Somerville Masterclass, we review 5 strategies to manage your fear of failure. See the original masterclass recording here: https://youtu.be/e6ckipXwn4w Ready to start your career in tech? Book your strategy session now at https://somervilleacademy.com/connect

1. Somerville Masterclass
Managing Your Fear Of Failure

2. LESSON OVERVIEW
● Intro to fear
● Naming it
● 5 strategies for managing fear

3. What is fear?
● An unpleasant emotion caused by
the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

4. Danger vs Fear
● Chris Hadfield breaks it down in his 2014 TED Talk:
What I learned from going blind in space
● Danger:
○ Immediate harm
○ Imminent death
● Fear:
○ Scary things
■ Spiders
■ Snakes
■ Bungee jumping
■ Failure

5. So what are
we afraid of?

6. Common fears
● Being embarrassed
● Being judged
● Not being liked
● Not being accepted
Spoiler alert: These are all code for fear of failure

7. Fear of failure
● Failing to be accepted
● Failing to live up to our potential
● Failing to provide for our families
● Failing to create the lives we want

8. Here’s the kicker...
These fears are REAL.
They never GO AWAY.
So, WE NEED A PLAN.

9. Strategies for managing fear
1. Best case / worst case / likely case scenario
2. Lower the stakes
3. Pause and reflect
4. Micro-failures
5. Do the math

10. 1. Outline the best case / worst case / likely case scenarios
● What is the best case?
○ Success on the first try
○ Minimal effort
○ Maximum reward
● What is the worst case?
○ No success
○ Maximum effort
○ Nothing to show for it
● What is the likely case?
○ Somewhere in the middle
○ Significant effort
○ Significant reward

11. 2. Lower the stakes
What’s actually at stake here?
● Will you be homeless?
● Will you be hungry?
What’s actually at stake here?
● Public embarrassment
● Feelings of guilt
● Having to try again

12. 3. Pause and reflect
● Weigh up the number of wins in your life
○ Learning to:
■ Walk, run, climb, read, write, AND not poop your pants before age 6(ish)
○ General adulting
○ Keeping plants and animals alive other than yourself
● Weigh up the number of losses
○ Student council race
○ Getting passed over for a job
○ Broken heart
● Which do you do more of?
We take the wins for granted. Stop doing that. You have a habit of winning.

13. 4. Practice micro-failures
● Start being bad at things again
○ Pilates
○ Singing
○ Cooking
○ Running
○ French
At some point between kid and adult we start believing we should be good at everything on
the first try.
This is called “Beginner’s Shame”.
Taking little risks every day conditions us to be more comfortable with the bigger risks.

14. 5. Do the math
● $10,000
○ Your current savings, not your LIFE savings (you’re still alive)
● Option 1: Invest in a fund
○ Invest $10,000 (in the bank)
○ Add $100 per month at a 5% return
○ $68,320 in 20 years
● Option 2: Invest in yourself
○ Invest $10,000 (in your education)
○ Add $1,000 per month at 5% return
○ $413,746 in 20 years
○ OR
■ You fail. You get a part-time job working 10 hours per week at $10/hr and you’ve got
your $10,000 back in 2 years. You’ve lost a potential $1,168 in compound interest.
● Risk: $1,168 | Reward: $413,746

15. Homework: separate success and self worth
● You are not defined by your successes
● You are not defined by your failures
● You are defined by how you show up for life and for the
people in it
If one particular thing doesn’t work out, you are still successful.
Success is your resting state.

16. KEY TAKEAWAYS
● There is a big difference between fear and danger
○ Most of the time you are not in danger
○ Most fears boil down to a fear of failure
● To manage your fear:
○ Outline the most likely scenario
○ Lower the stakes
○ Pause and reflect
○ Practice micro-failures
○ Do the math
● Success is your resting state

17. Questions?
Post them in the comments below