Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Hey, friend. Do you find yourself caught in the grip of fear just paralyzed by the idea of failing? Maybe that looks looks like not applying for the job because what if you don't get it? It might be not telling your spouse that you wanna learn a foreign language because what if they laugh at you when you're no good at it?

Erica: Or maybe it's not trying something new because you know, you just know you're not gonna be any good at it. Does that make you cringe? Filling you with embarrassment, shame, or even a touch of f****s. Believe me. I get it.

Erica: I really do. The pressure to always show up as the very best version of ourselves can be overwhelming. We hesitate and we wonder, should I even try? The fear of failure is real and it's powerful, and it holds us back from reaching our true potential. But let me tell you something.

Erica: It is time that we flip the script and transform that fear into a stepping stone towards success. Because failure is not the end. It is a vital part of the journey, and it's something that we talk a lot about on this show, but it keeps showing up for so many of us. So today, we are diving into the science of failure, breaking down the walls of fear, and revealing how to turn it into the ultimate fuel for your future successes. Let's dive into the five well researched steps, because you know your girl loves science to help you reframe failure as the valuable feedback tool that it truly is.

Erica: You are listening to the podcast from next to next. The podcast empowers women to get seen, get heard and get promoted. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, and I've made it my mission to help you break free from the sticky floors, those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to bust through the glass ceiling. I'm obsessed with all things growth and abundance. And I'm here to talk you through the tried and true secrets to get you to level up your career and your life.

Erica: We talk about the hard stuff here. Imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear, and burnout. So pull up a seat, pop in an earbud, and let's dive in. Step one, you have to separate your self worth from the outcomes. Simple, I know, but not easy.

Erica: But picture this, you pitch a big idea to your boss, you poured your heart and soul into it, and the job went to someone else. Right? That's my story. It happened to me, and it felt just like a true gut punch. It felt like betrayal, and somehow it felt like failure.

Erica: I wanted to know what could I have done differently? How should I have shown up differently? How did I fail? But here's the truth that I now know with a gift of hindsight, and that is that failure, it's just an event. Isn't a definition of who you are as a person.

Erica: I kept having these thoughts of why am I such a failure, but that isn't what that is. And I think every single one of you can say, girl, get your mind, right. That is not true, but that's how I felt. And I can see now that an event like that does not have to define. My worth is not determined by a single outcome, a single person, or a single action.

Erica: It is determined by what I do when the shit does, when the bad stuff does happen. Remember, failure may knock on your door, and trust me, it will. If you are listening to this podcast, you have probably failed, which is a great thing, but you don't have to let failure take over your life. Now the second science backed strategy is adopting a beginner's mindset. And let me tell you, this is the one that I always have to go back to.

Erica: Now I would love, love, love, love for someone to tell me why I expect every single time to be so good at something that I've never done before. Please help me understand this. But here's the deal. You cannot expect to be a pro from day one. And I love this because this is the message that I have to tell myself.

Erica: Mastery of any skill takes time. It takes this. Now, of course, some of those skills may come easier than others, but you have got to release this pressure that you and only you put on yourself to excel and embrace the journey, embrace the stumbles, the falls, because with each one, you are gaining experience and you are inching closer to excellence. Now I want you to look for those small improvements to actually see them and track your progress. For me with this podcast, I started tracking the metrics because I felt like I wasn't getting any more followers.

Erica: I wasn't seeing any success, and I was wondering if I should even do it. And now over time that we've been going on this for two years, I can see how far I've come. Tracking the steps is truly helpful because sometimes the growth is so slow that you don't see it every day. But when you see that progress over time, you just might surprise yourself at how much progress you are truly now the third thing I wanna talk about is connecting your work to purpose. It sounds hokey, sounds very fluff, but have you ever noticed that when your work serves a greater purpose, perfectionism seems to lose its grip?

Erica: I swear it's true. When you know your efforts are impacting others in a positive way, the fear of failure kinda ends up taking a back seat. Keep reminding yourself of this greater pause and remind yourself that what happens if you do not show up, if you do not do it and write shit down. I often, you know, go wanting to show my kids that I can do hard things and that they don't always come easy to me, but I want them to learn by watching. And sometimes that alone is my purpose, and that is what keeps me pushing forward.

Erica: Now, the fourth backed science strategy that you've heard me talk about a lot is celebrating the small step. Our brains have aim for latching on to what is going wrong. Magna sign failures, magnifying slip ups. No matter how small. You got a typo in email?

Erica: You've read about it for days. Stop. No more of that. It is time to change your thinking. Start shifting your mind to deliberately what went right, no matter how small.

Erica: You know what? You got up and got your kids to school today. You wrote 15 emails. You took the dog for a mile walk today. What is celebrate it. Celebrate those wins no matter how small, because each step forward, no matter how small, is a step forward.

Erica: And last but not least, get yourself an accountability partner. When you share the journey with someone who understands the ups and downs, someone who can help you extract the lessons from the failures, it becomes a game changer. An accountability partner can help you reframe failures from this, you know, god awful experience to an empowering empathetic lens. And it will help you navigate those rough times in those rough patches. Now here's the bonus, this shared growth that you have with your accountability partner, it actually strengthens your relationship.

Erica: It strengthens the support you have. And let me tell you who doesn't want better relationships. I have accountability partners all across the spectrum. I have some for my fitness. I have some for my keynote speaking.

Erica: I have some for my podcast. Having the community of people around you who support you will keep you going. So it's five steps, five science backed steps to help you push through failure. Now I want you to take these that I shared. It's only ten minutes that we've been talking, but I want you to take all of these, and I want you to pocket them for whenever you need them and practice them on the regular.

Erica: Even if you can't do them all, just pick one and just start transforming that failure into this driving force for your future wins. Believe me, you got this and I got you. I believe in you, and I know that you got this. So pick back one. So pick one.

Erica: What are you gonna start doing today? I would love to know. Drop me a message. Tell me. And if you need an accountability barter, hit a girl up.

Erica: You are not alone in this journey. We are all here together. Now will you do me a favor? If you are listening, please share this podcast with someone you know, maybe even someone you don't. You never know who truly needs to hear the message.

Erica: I'll talk to you next time, friend.