Rotary Minutarian
DG Nick Hall
LIVE YOUR LIFE SO TOMORROW YOU WON'T REGRET TODAY. Catherine Pulsifer
Fear of failure is perhaps the greatest impediment to achieving success in both professional endeavors as well as building relationships. Self-doubt and pessimism erode one’s confidence to the extent avoiding change becomes a strategy for avoiding failure. As we prepare to start the new year, many people will compile a list of goals, often the same ones never realized since
they were placed on last year’s list. What keeps those dreams from being realized is often fear of failure.
Fear is the emotion of the future. You can be afraid of only those things that have not happened. If something has already occurred, you can be angry, sad, disgusted or perhaps a combination of these and other emotions. But you can’t be afraid.
We fear things associated with the future because we cannot predict with certainty the outcome. Over the years, I’ve found a strategy to convert this powerful emotion into a force capable of facilitating the
achievement of goals; fear of regret. I used it for the first time when contemplating my first job after completing my university studies. I’d been offered a faculty appointment at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The high powered research environment would likely propel me to scientific success, including eventual tenure.
However, at the same time the offer was made, I received an invitation from the National Geographic Society to lead an expedition to the West Indies. The goal was to learn why whales sometimes bring about their own demise by deliberately swimming into shallow
waters where they become stranded and die. Unlike the long term Galveston offer, it was only a two year project to be spent in comparative isolation sailing between often uninhabited islands.
My colleagues urged me to accept the academic offer observing I would have no way of keeping abreast of new developments in my field of research were I to take a two year leave in the West Indies. The reasons for joining the team in Galveston filled a legal pad, while those for setting up a temporary lab on a remote sandy beach fit on a postage stamp. Consequently, fear
of missing a golden opportunity guided me to Texas, while an appetite for adventure beckoned me to the islands.
The dilemma was quickly resolved by reframing the question. Instead of asking which decision should I make, I asked which I would most regret not having made in the future. In no time, Hazel and I took steps to store or sell the possessions we couldn’t take with us and headed to the islands with our then 6 month old daughter in tow.
Fear of failure was reframed as fear of regret. As fate would have it, everything worked out and after eventually returning to America, my research career took off. When faced with a choice, I always let fear of regret guide me to the path I’ll follow.
Use whatever strategy works best for you, but if you have unfulfilled dreams or unmet goals, try letting anticipated regret serve as your compass. You won’t regret it!
