WSP 17 — Befriending Fear of Failure: Clearing a Path to Your Goals
Winter
Saturdays
10:00 am—4:00 pm
Date(s)
Mar 12—Mar 19
2 days
Drop By
Mar 5
1 Units
Fees
$225
Format
On-campus course
Open
Do you hold back because you are afraid to fail? Do you question your ideas and dreams because you’re not sure they can become reality? Most of us learn early that failing, especially publicly, brings embarrassment, even humiliation. However, the willingness to be wrong and risk failure is vital to innovation. We can learn not just to tolerate but also to welcome the blunders and wrong turns that lead to success. We can strengthen the many varieties of courage that are necessary to professional development and personal fulfillment.
This course will build immunity against fear of failure by offering practical techniques to neutralize the states that feed it—anxiety, self-doubt, vulnerability, shame, and uncertainty. We can recognize anxiety sooner and apply resilience techniques to daily challenges. Findings from cognitive and Buddhist psychology suggest remedies for self-doubt. We can internalize and put to use the paradoxical truth that the ability to be vulnerable is an unacknowledged strength. We can develop physical and emotional courage with which to challenge shame-based limits on our potential. Risk requires letting go of guarantees, and through interactive exercises and discussion, participants will come away better equipped to dare to live well in uncertainty. In the carefree words of playwright Samuel Beckett: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
This course will build immunity against fear of failure by offering practical techniques to neutralize the states that feed it—anxiety, self-doubt, vulnerability, shame, and uncertainty. We can recognize anxiety sooner and apply resilience techniques to daily challenges. Findings from cognitive and Buddhist psychology suggest remedies for self-doubt. We can internalize and put to use the paradoxical truth that the ability to be vulnerable is an unacknowledged strength. We can develop physical and emotional courage with which to challenge shame-based limits on our potential. Risk requires letting go of guarantees, and through interactive exercises and discussion, participants will come away better equipped to dare to live well in uncertainty. In the carefree words of playwright Samuel Beckett: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
This workshop may not be taken for a Letter Grade.
Carolyn Foster, Principal, Creative Choices
Carolyn Foster coaches individuals on professional development and creative projects and teaches communication and leadership skills within organizations. She was a founding member of the Coaching Center at Google. She received a master’s in counseling psychology from the American Academy of Family Studies.Textbooks for this course:
(Recommended) Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (ISBN 978-1-592-40733-0)
(Recommended) Kelly McGonigal, The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It (ISBN 978-1-583-33561-1)
(Recommended) Kelly McGonigal, The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It (ISBN 978-1-583-33561-1)