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How to Overcome the Fear of Failure

In this episode titled "How to Overcome the Fear of Failure," I dive into one of the most common yet often overlooked challenges that leaders face: the fear of failure. Drawing from my experience in executive coaching and personal struggles, I explore how this fear can silently impact even the most confident and competitive leaders, draining their energy and stalling their progress. I share a personal story of overcoming this fear when launching my leadership podcast and YouTube channel, and I provide practical, faith-based strategies to help you conquer this fear in your own life. Join me as we unpack how God equips us with power, love, and a sound mind to push past fear and fulfill our God-given purpose.


Questions to ask yourself:

1.    Where am I holding back in my life because of fear?

2.    Where do I need to stir up that gift within me?

3.    Take some time to evaluate your power, your love, and your sound mind.

4.    If I had no fear, what would I step into or out of today?

5.    What is that “thing” that I know I should do, but I’m not because of fear?












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Transcript


Welcome to the Christian leader made simple podcast. I really hope this episode helps you learn and master the skills you need to grow your leadership effectiveness and enjoyment. Be sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified as soon as I post a new session so you don't miss the single episode. I'd also greatly appreciate any reviews, likes and shares that you can give me. It just helps me extend my reach to more people.


So leaders, I know just how frustrating it can feel when you're in the weeds of work or ministry and life is chaotic. You're struggling to feel effective and you're just not enjoying... Up as much as you could be. And so to help you, after many years of leadership and executive coaching, I've developed a framework called the Christian leader blueprint that'll guide you to find clarity in your life and leadership. It'll help you gain a better rhythm of life.


It'll help you see yourself more clearly to leverage your strengths and you'll produce more productive relationships. It's a step by step guide to leadership transformation. And I have that in 2 formats now. I have a free short guide that you can find on ryan Franklin dot org, and I have a book, the Christian leader blueprint. And you can find that in any format, including an audiobook book wherever you buy your books.


I have a few more things on my website that you may be interested in, so just head on over to Ryan franklin dot org and check it all out. And now, let's get to our session. Have you ever struggled with the fear failure? Now, before you think, no. That's not me and you just tune me out.


Humor me for for a moment. In my experience in executive coaching, I found that a very high percentage of leaders that are strong competitive confident leaders. They struggle with the fear failure. And I would say that it's much more common than you would even expect. In fact, it's very possible that you have this fear of failure as well, and you don't even realize it.


And it doesn't matter how competitive of a person you are or how self confident you are, or how good of a leader you are. This fear failure can still be a factor in your life, and it can sneak up on you when you least expect it. And when a leader is tired and stressed and having to make a big decision that that carries a lot of weight in the area in which they lead. This is usually when the fear of failure is gonna surface, and it's exhausting. And it'll literally drain the emotional energy from a leader quicker than most things will.


And I wanna just pause for a minute, and and I want you to think back on a on a big god sized vision that you've had in your past, 1 that It required a lot of energy for you to pull off? Think about that time. Were you hit with excessive worry? Did you worry a lot. Maybe you had trouble making decisions because you were afraid of of making the wrong decision?


Or the fear of being criticized if if it was the wrong decision or maybe even wanted to sort of withdraw from people and be self sufficient and just protect yourself because of that fear. And all of this just sort of stalled your progress or slowed down your performance or or maybe you over studied and over reviewed the circumstances, you see... When this fear failure your hits, you can be indecisive. You can lack the courage that you need. You can fail to adapt to the changing demands that are before you, and you can even fail to accomplish.


The big vision that the Lord is leading you to. And in this episode, I wanna talk about the solution to overcoming this fear of failure in your life. But let me pause here and I just wanna say if you have not taken my Christian self assessment you need to go to my website today and take the assessment. I should be charging a significant amount of money. For this assessment, but it's absolutely free to you.


Because I wanna help you get laser focused on exactly what is gonna help you move the needle in your personal leadership growth and this assessment will absolutely do that for you. So go to ryan Franklin dot org and take the assessment today. So back to the fear of failure, this is a lesson that I that I re... I recently talked this on Wednesday night at my church at po, and it's not easy to overcome this fear, but it is possible. You know how I know that?


I know it because of this second timothy 1 7. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and a sound mine. The lord didn't give this to you, but he did give us. He did give you some tools to overcome this fear, 04/05/2021, was a little over 3 years ago. I started a Youtube channel, a podcast, and a blog on leadership, all at the same time.


Some people thought I was crazy to just jump into so much so quickly. And it's hard to explain, and you may not understand this, but hitting post on that Monday morning of April fifth was 1 of the hardest things that I've ever had to do. You have to understand. I had not I had not been on any sort of social media for over 10 years prior of that week. I didn't like social media.


And I... I've studied leadership all of my life as as a teenager I even had a subscription to the John Maxwell leadership Tate Club. And if you know what I'm talking about with that Tate Club, let me know in the Youtube comments. I'd love to hear it. But I couldn't wait to get that cassette tape and that application guide in the mail every single month.


That's how much I loved studying leadership. But for most of my life, I just consumed the material, and I just attempted to kinda put it in practice in my own life at my jobs over the years at my church as as as a volunteer, and then later on as a staff member, and then as a pastor. And I had never done very much teaching on leadership, especially not in a public way. And 1 day, I I felt the lord sort of nudge me and say, Ryan, I want you to start teaching. What I've taught you about leadership.


And that's when fear gripped me. And those feelings of ina and all of the all of the times over the years that I know that I struggled to lead effectively that I... That I didn't lead effectively. Those things started coming to my mind. And my failure started surfacing in my mind and the doubt and the worry, and that impostor syndrome, and I don't have the right last name to start something like this syndrome.


All of these lies just started surfacing in my mind. And as I'm looking back, I don't understand why I really... I don't understand why it was a big deal anyway. I mean, only 6 people tuned in that first week and 4 of them were my family members, I think. But I battled with whether or not my contribution was significant enough?


I mean, why not just go read a John Maxwell book or or go listen to a John Townsend and training or or podcast. Why would my contribution be significant? In the middle of these giants on the subject of leadership. But it wasn't just about who would tune in, or who didn't tune in that week that created the fear within me or even in the weeks to come It was also about the vision that the Lord had given me. And I'll be honest when I looked down the road at that vision that he gave me.


It was so scary. It was way beyond, little old me what I could accomplish. And. It was a vision that if god wasn't in the big middle of it, it wasn't gonna happen. And I knew that this was this was gonna be challenging for me for many years, in and in many ways, from my abilities, it was gonna be challenging because of the insecurities within me because of the lack of resources that I had.


I knew that it would be challenging. And so I started preparing even weeks before I launched it months before I started before I launched it. And I asked the lord to give me supernatural strength to endure these things. I asked for his power. And I resource from key people in my life.


The people that I knew that I could trust to love and to support me in the way that would be helpful to combat those insecurities that were that were within me. And I worked hard to push through the stress and the anxiety that I was feeling to get a clarity of mine on direction and the content and everything that was involved, And it was amazing. Even though the launch was really tough for me, even though it was tough for a couple of months It was the combination of the power of God, the love of God and the sound mine that helped that fear to just dissipate. And the feelings of ina within me, they went away. And my god given vision began to become a reality.


And and I accomplished and I'm still accomplishing working towards what I felt the Lord wanted wanted me to do and 1 of the ways that I felt he wanted me to serve the kingdom of god? Almost 4 years later now. And I just wondered today, what is the Lord calling you to do? How has the Lord prompted you to serve him and to serve the people of god. But you're allowing fear to stop you?


You're allowing fear to stall you and and you're allowing it to to to talk you in to just play in it safe. And if you had no fear, what would you have already done, particularly in the kingdom of God? And if you had no fear, what would you do right now? And if you had no fear, what would you step into? Or maybe what would you step out of in order to position yourself?


To be more effective in the kingdom of God. Because you see, sometimes God is just looking for a yes from you so that he can show himself faithful. You see, fear is not from God Instead, god equip us with 3 powerful tools according to second Timothy 1 7 to combat fear. He equip us with power and with love and with a sound mine. And these are not just abstract concepts, but their tangible forces in our lives that that are activated by the holy ghost, The holy spirit within us.


In the Lord's greatest desire is for us to be obedient to his word to love him and for us to serve his calls. And when we say yes, we give God an opportunity to show his faithfulness in our lives. So in second, Timothy, chapter 1, Paul is writing to Timothy here, and I wanna look at verse first 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the Will of God. According to the promise of life, which is in Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. Second, Timothy is a it's a unique letter from the apostle Paul, it's unique in 1 sense because Paul wrote it to Timothy, and he wrote it from prison, This is a second prison term.


But but really what makes it unique is that Paul wrote this knowing that his death was coming soon. And let me just say this. There's nothing that'll clarify a person's thinking more than when they about to die. A person's priorities will get laser focused during that time. And it's like Paul was sort of dealing with the things that were most important to him because time wasn't not on his side.


And and he and he didn't have to mess... He he didn't have time to mess around. And so He's not beating around the bush here. He's writing to Timothy to telling him those things that are most important to him. And so, Paul is writing this letter from Death row.


And he's speaking with confidence that I'm a special ambassador of the king of kings. And I just wanna say this, that's not arrogant. That's confidence. And here's why. He's saying, I have a divine commission to fulfill the mission.


That God has given me. This great purpose. It wasn't because of his own ambition, it wasn't because of his popularity or his desire to be popular, but it was because of the will of God. And when he adds this line in verse 1 that that that is unique to all of his greetings. He says according to the promise of life.


He didn't give any other greetings like this in in in his other letters. But he knew that his death was near and he knew how precious it was for him to think of that. I'm an apostle according to the promise of life. And so he addresses Timothy at the in verse 2, and and then in verse 3, he tells him that he's praying for him night and day. He can't do anything else, but he can write this letter.


He's in prison. He can't he can write this letter and he can pray day and night. And I love the way that Paul, even in those last days is doing whatever he could do to advance the kingdom of god. And I think about the fact that we often... A lot of times we soak over the things we can't do.


Right? And that list can sometimes get pretty big and and overwhelming. I can't do this, and I can't do that, and and I don't have the time and I don't have the ability, and I don't have the talent or or I don't have the finances, There's a great big list of things that we can't do for 1 reason or another. But I say, why don't you just find a few things that you can do. Right where you are, right in the big middle of your circumstances or in this season of life.


And if all you can do is write letters and pray then do those things. And Paul couldn't do the many things that he was used to doing as an apostle because he was in prison but he focus on the things that he could do. And then Paul brings up Timothy family in verse 5. And he remembers the faith of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, And I just love the way that Paul pointed out the role of the grandmother and the mother and Timothy getting him to the place that he was that day. It makes me think of my own grandmother and and the role that she had in my life.


And and That's a big thing. And let me tell you something. We need many more lois, and we may need many more uni and many more fathers and grandfather investing... In this younger generation. Grandma's faith wasn't gonna rescue Timothy, Mama's faith wasn't gonna rescue, but you can bet that their faith made a huge impact on his life.


But in second Timothy 1 5, there's there's a few important words. It says, and I am persuaded that in the also. And so Paul could see the things that grandma and mama put into Timothy. He could see that in in Timothy. And now Paul is gonna start encouraging, Timothy and in verse 6, and he says here in verse second timothy 1 6 where I put the in remembrance that they'll stir up the gift of god, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.


So in verses 4 and 5, Paul spoke of the faith that he had in Timothy, Timothy, I know that that you have this great passion, and you have an amazing faith in the lord. But Timothy. You also need verse 6, where I put the in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in the. To stir up the gift of God, that's in you. And Timothy was a gifted and a and a extremely valuable man for the kingdom of God, but it seems like he was just he was just like a lot of us.


God gave him more potential than he was actually living out. And Paul is saying here stir up the gift of God that's in you. There was something greater that the Lord was calling him to. Do you know that in in first and second, Timothy, there are more than 25 places where Paul is encouraging, Timothy to be bold and to be strong and to step up to the responsibilities and the calling that the Lord is given him. And that's what he's doing here in verse 6.


Therefore, I remind you stir up the gift of God. That's in you. And he's saying Timothy, you can't be passive or reserved or scared and just let it all unfold, You can't let worry get the best of you. You gotta be bold. You need to stir up the gift that's in you.


And some of you under the sound of my voice right now. Have gifts. That are given to you by god, but there's gifts are neglected. And please understand, I'm not saying these things to bring condemnation to you or or guilt into your life that's far from my purpose. I don't wanna lecture you on what you're doing for god and what you're not doing for god.


But I do wanna say this. If God were to say to you, stir up the gift that's within you. You would likely know exactly what he's talking about with you. So before we continue on with the podcast, this episode is brought to you by Christian leader community coaching. Are you a christian leader experiencing low productivity, or chaotic lifestyle?


And maybe you're overwhelmed and just unsure of what it's gonna take to create growth in your life. And so I wanna introduce to you our Christian leader community coaching program. Through our step by step framework, you're gonna discover a better rhythm of life you'll see yourself more clearly, leverage your strengths and build more productive relationships. With our full archive, of courses, our supportive community of peers, a powerful leadership assessment to get you quickly focused. We also have live community coaching and so much more.


And I've personally seen its huge impact with leaders from all over the world, experiencing laser, focused growth in their lives. And now through this community, this experience is open to you. And we wanna help you implement these simple frameworks and then celebrate with you as you experience significant results in your life. Don't wait any longer, go to ryan Franklin dot org and join the Christian leader community coaching today, and I look forward to seeing you inside the community now back to our podcast. And you know that he's gifted you and that he's spoken to you and that those gifts really aren't being used as they could be right now.


But this reminds me of a very important principle. God doesn't work as gift gifts in and through us as if we were robots. Even when he gives a man or a woman gifts. He leaves an element that that needs the cooperation of their will and their desire and their commitment to make it happen. You know, I'm a pastor.


I'm a preacher, I'm a teacher. I'm a leadership coach, I have a high leadership energy and and a high prudence and structure within me that some of the gifts within me. I have those gifts, but I can also neglect them. I can neglect those God given abilities and or I can neglect things like prayer or study of the word of God, and and I can neglect the things that prepare me and equip me to truly use those gifts within me. It's very much possible for me to do that.


And if I'm neglected to do it, to some degree, the the Lord would probably use a percentage of my abilities, but how much more could God do if I decided to stir up the gifts within me and position myself to be used to the greatest stability in in the kingdom of god that I could. And there are some people even some of you listening in today, and some of you are very passively waiting on God to use you. Here I am, Lord. Use me. And we're just sitting around sitting around waiting on the Lord to to take control of us like a robot, but Paul says Timothy, stir up the gift that's within you.


And some people are just waiting on some dramatic, spiritual annoying or experience to happen. And then then I'll kick it in the in the gear and Paul's telling Timothy here. You already have it. Just stir up that gift within you. You know, a few weeks ago, we had a a major storm here in Central Louisiana.


The wind was blowing so hard at 1 point that it literally bent my gate rod on my fence. The wind was that bad. And I was talking to 1 of our church members, a lot of the power had gone out all around the city, and I was talking to 1 of my church members at at the church that next morning just a few hours after the storm. And they had been burning a a pile of limbs 3 days prior to that storm. And they thought that it had burned down and burned out.


And that morning when that storm and that wind blew through there. They looked out the back window of their house early that morning. And they saw that the fire was actually burning again 3 days later. You see the wind was blowing so hard and and evidently, there was an em still in the ground where where they had that fire and that wind started stirring that em and all of a sudden there was a fire that had comb busted. And I tell you that story to say this.


You may have an em deep down in your soul. And you just need the wind of the holy spirit to come alongside you and light your fire again. And you may need you may need to stir up the gift that is within you. So after Paul tells Timothy to stir up the gifts within him. Paul knows very well what's coming next in Timothy mind?


He knows that fear is coming. For 1 reason, he knows that that's that's only natural for most of us to experience fear after we... After we're challenged. And so he hits it quickly and he hits it straight on, and the next verse is the verse that I started with verse 7, timothy 1 7. For god it's not giving us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mine.


And it was as if Paul, this older wiser mentor of Timothy. It was this as if Paul knew that this fear was gonna come. And he tells Timothy, hey, man, this fear? It's not from God. God has not given you that spirit of fear.


And listen, if you're listening to this, I realize that we all have situations where we feel timid and we're we feel afraid even. But the first step in dealing with those fears is to realize. They are not from God. God didn't give you that spirit that that fear within you. Maybe it's a personal weakness, maybe it's a wounded area of my life, maybe it's an insecurity within me, but god didn't give that to me.


But if God hasn't given me, the spirit of fear. What has he given me? Let's 8 second timothy 1 7 again. God if not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mine. And I wanna tell you today, this is the antidote to leaning in to the fears that are within you.


To leaning into the things that are holding you back from using the gifts within you. This is what will give you the energy and the drive and the passion to overcome that fear of failure and accomplish what the Lord wants to do through your life in this season of your life. And I wanna break that down for you a little bit. I wanna talk about each 1 of these things in brief form. When we lean into the power of the holy ghost, We have all the power that we need supporting us to make it through whatever obstacle is there.


Z46 it says not by power? Nor by might, but by my spirit. Say of the Lord. And the power that's mentioned in second Timothy 1 7, it's not your own strength, but it's the power of the holy ghost that's working within you, and it's this power that gives you the ability to face those fears within you. Ephesians 06:18 through 20, praying always with all prayer and sup simplification in the spirit.


And watching there into with all perseverance and sup simplification for all saints. And for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in bonds that we're in, I may speak boldly as odd to speak. So the apostle Paul needed prayer to be able to speak boldly. He needed the spirit of God, he needed the power of the holy ghost to step in into what the Lord had called him to do.


And so to overcome fear, God has given us power Now, secondly, he's given us his love to overcome fear. Now, everybody wants power. But do you really want power that'll be expressed in biblical love. Because it's different than the world's power and the world's love. Think about when Jesus, he he went to wash the feet of his disciples in in John chapter 13 He had...


This is Jesus who had all authority all power in heaven and earth. And he could've have done anything he wanted to do to the Roman government or anyone else that that was coming against him, But what did he do? He gi himself with a towel, and he washed the disciples feet. He had all power in heaven and earth to do anything he wanted, but he expressed his love. By washing feet and dying on a cross.


And that's something that most of the world just doesn't understand, but that's the love of god in action, and I need you to understand this. It's his love, but he also provides his love through the body of Christ. This is very important through you, through me. We need each other. He designed it that way.


Philippians 01:14, and many of the brethren of the Lord wax confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. In other words, I'll receive what I need to overcome fear my life through the people around me. First John 04:18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast without fear. And it's actually love, that's gonna motivate us to take certain risk to step out in faith to speak the truth boldly even when it's uncomfortable. That's what love does for us.


And it's love from others, and it's love for others. It's our love for others that compels us to be bold and to fight through that fear that may come. And so to overcome fear, you have the power you have the love. Now you need the stability of a sound mind. And sound mine in in in the Greek here means to calm to be self controlled, especially when a fearful situation comes, And I believe that God has that for every 1 of us.


But each 1 of us have have a different Dna. We've had different childhood experiences. We were raised in different environments. And and, I mean, our environments and our Dna and our personalities, there as different as our fingerprints are. We're all different.


And because of that, this sound mind that he's talking about a scripture here, may look just a little bit different for every 1 of us. You know, some of us are just more anxious and up tight, naturally. And then there's others that are just calm and more laid back, sometimes you wonder if they even care, but that's natural to them. And for all of those personality differences, a sound mine may look just a little bit different. And I don't think the Lord is asking us to just erase those personality differences.


He's not wanting us to... He's not wanting to make us all, like, robots, but and and make us all the same, but he does desire that we have a sound mind that can help facilitate the use of the gifts within us. And I know that we all have insecurities to some degree. I have those. I know that some of you truly struggle with mental health issues and depression and things of that nature.


I realize that this is this is not something that we can just quote a verse and it all go away. But I do believe that God is working in and through you and that he wants to bring his power and his love and his help that'll bring a supernatural clarity and a sound mind in the midst of those challenges. A sound mine is a mind that is disciplined and controlled and at peace, and it's the mind of Christ within us that helps us think more clearly and make godly decisions even when fear threatens to overwhelm us. Isaiah 20 63I love this scripture that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me We need his power, we need love, and we need a sound mine. In verse 3 of second Timothy chapter 1, Paul says, I think God, who I serve.


And I just wanna tell you here that service and the kingdom of God is a vital element and activating that power and that love and that sound mind within us, And we're when we're actively serving God and we're aligned with his purpose, especially when it's something that's really big, there's a domino effect that helped strengthen us against fear. But if Satan can somehow get us to to struggle with 1 of these things. If he can get us to question God's power or get us to step out of his power, It's just the foothold that he may need to slip that fear in. Or if if he can disrupt our concept of of love, our our love with Christ or our love with others, then that's all Satan may need to just slip his foot in the door and let that fear in. Or if he could somehow disturb or order our minds and and maybe cause us, maybe cause us to get offended by someone or or cause us to be full of anxiety to a point where it's disabling to us, or or whatever the...


Whatever the case may be. And that's all that Satan may need. To open the door and let that fear come rushing in. And so I come today with a simple challenge for you to evaluate your life to evaluate yourself with this question, Where am I holding back of my life because of fear? Where's is the fear of failure stalling my progress and where do I need to stir stir up that gift within me?


And then I want you to take some time to evaluate your power, your love and your cell mind. And ask yourself this if I had no fear, what would I step into or what would I step out of today? What is that thing that you know you should do, but you aren't because of fear. Sometimes God is just looking for a yes so that he can show himself faithful. And I'll put those questions in the show notes so that you'll have those available.


And I'm wrapping up here, but I wanna show you 1 more thing in second timothy chapter 1 versus 8 through 9. Be not thou therefore a ashamed to the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou for taker, of the reflections of the gospel according to the power of God, who had saved us and had and had and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose in grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the before the world begin. You have a holy calling you if you're listening to this right now, you have a purpose. What's that thing that you know you should do, but you aren't because of fear.


Sometimes God is just looking for a yes so that he can show himself faithful. Second timothy 1 7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mine. Thank you so much for tuning in to the christian leader made simple podcast. My name is Ryan Franklin. Have a great day.


Copyright © 2024 Ryan Franklin. All rights reserved.

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