From Quora: "How can one learn to not be afraid of failure?"

Question from Quora:

"How can one learn to not be afraid of failure?"

"After listening to over 30 Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) talks, I have come to the conclusion that I have not taken a significant amount of risk in my life and career thus far. My upbringing didn't necessarily nurture risk, but instead put an emphasis on "safety" and mild success. More specifically, if any of the great minds out there have some experience breaking out of the risk-averse lifestyle, I would really appreciate some examples of what your catalysts were."

My Reply:

"You have to realize that if you are going to try anything - you're going to fail. Failure is just a stepping stone (or, more typically, a FEW stepping stones) on your path to success. Nothing more.

Of course if you're not willing to try and tackle any new challenges - then you are not going to succeed at anything either.

We all fail, many times - even though it may seem some people have had it relatively easy and had struck it big without any hardship this is rarely the case.

A risk-averse lifestyle is fine - if you are willing to compromise. Never forget you only live once - make the most of it!!"

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