Fighting fear of failure with Rational-Emotive Therapy

Discusses problems of anxiety, worry, and fear of failure from a rational-emotive therapy (RET) perspective. It is argued that fear of failure is due to irrational thinking about past, present, or future performances. Irrational thinking consists of unreasonable demands and low self-esteem. 11 RET strategies are offered that may enable people to stop worrying about failure: admitting to anxiety; accepting that fear of failure is self-created; disputing personal demands; attacking statements about the tragic consequences of failure; sabotaging statements of low self-esteem; risk-taking; and developing functional personal attitudes toward adventurous life, uncertainty, and death.