The fear of failure one of the biggest obstacles that often prevents us from achieving great things. It can cause us to overthink to the point where we don’t move forward with the better of two options.

Being Content

Before joining Clean Coders as an apprentice, I was working as a “programmer” at a grocery store. The work environment and the people were great–but not many people had much enthusiasm or pride in their work. The typical mindset was to work your 8-5 and forget about work as soon as you leave the office.

This sort of mindset is probably the norm for most corporate employees, but it often produced less than ideal resulted. There was so much more potential among my peers, but few had the enthusiasm to go the extra mile–maybe because they had been there long enough to stop caring.

In any case, I was content with where I was and knew I had a secure future if I stayed. Although, the fear that I might lose my enthusiasm for work occasionally popped into my mind. Would I just become another corporate drone to code whatever business area wants?

An Opportunity

Some time later, I had the opportunity to become an apprentice among people who I would consider legends in the industry. The chance to just meet some of them and ask a few questions was a privilege all on its own–never would I have thought I’d get to work with them.

The best way I could explain this opportunity to others is by comparing it to Bruce Wayne’s apprenticeship under Ra’s al Ghul–except Clean Coders isn’t evil… and I’m not a billionaire :(

But my fear of failure ensued–What if I don’t make the cut? What if I lose the security I had before?

A Decision

So now a decision has to be made: Should I leave my security and stability behind to pursue this apprenticeship? Everything circles back to the bigger questions: Why do I do what I do? Well, I code because I genuinely find it fun, and it is something I can only hope to master one day.

So then what matters to me more? Risking everything I have for a chance to learn from the best, and potentially even failing there. Or staying where I’m at where I can probably become a pretty good developer–but probably not the best.

You’ve Never Truly Failed

Albert Einstein is credited for saying, You never fail until you stop trying. If I had decided against the apprenticeship, then I would have already failed at that decision.

Now even if I wind up failing today, the decision to attempt and fail is far better than not having tried at all–and even then I haven’t truly failed unless I stopped trying.

All that to say, don’t let a fear of failure get in the way of achieving great things.