The cure of self-consciousness / by James Alexander.

  • James Alexander
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cure of self-consciousness / by James Alexander. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    succeed, shows the victim the folly of making the exchange. And then the world benefits, for in such cases he emerges from the ordeal, a stronger, better, all-round man. We advise everyone who aspires to do anything in a public capacity to study carefully our remarks on the con- trol of stage-fright in Part 2 of this book. The methods advocated have been well tested and can be recommended with confidence. § 12. FEAR OF FAILURE. At first sight it may appear that the fear of failure has no relation to self-consciousness, but when you remember that this fear is one of the most potent causes of stage-fright, you will recognise that we are bound to give it some attention. The fear of failure is of two kinds, (1) In its commoner form it is a check against enterprise and initiative. We fear to enter into new undertakings, fear to make a change, fear to take risks, for we fear failure. (2) In its second form the fear of failure comes to the man who is the direct opposite of the man with no enterprise. It comes to the man who is actively engaged in something. He may be a literary man, a business man, a speaker, a concert artiste, or an artisan engaged on some special task. In the midst of his work the fear of failure comes stealthily, or suddenly. It generally works by sugges- tion: “I don’t think you will make a success of that.” “You are bound to fail—give it up.” ‘“‘ You have made a terrible blunder—you have ruined your reputation.” If you listen to suggestions like these the fear of failure has an easy and sure victim in you. The fear of failure is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, paralyser of human effort that can be named. The world has lost much from this fear. Thousands of men of undoubted talent are engaged in humble, menial
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