How do you overcome fear of failure?

Fear of failure is probably one of the most common reasons why people procrastinate.

We all encounter inevitable set backs and rejections, but how do we overcome that overwhelming fear of something going wrong which then stops us doing what we really want to do?

If we have a script in our head that says, 'whats the point of doing anything when I know it will go wrong', then it is more than likely we will fail if we do it.

If we think of all the highly successful people, the inventors, the scientists et al, then we must know that they had to fail many times before they achieved success.

My own personal theory about fear of failure is that we learn it at school. Not only teachers who may have been cross with us or ridiculed us if we got things wrong, but our peer groups who may have laughed at us.

How many people do you know who have had failures in life, but have bounced back and had successes? Not just professionally but personally successes?

I wonder what they told themselves when things did not work out well or they encountered setbacks and rejections?

In sales, I learned that no, does not necessarily mean never, and so if I was rejected, I just kept going, because maybe I could turn it into a yea at some point.

How many people take it really personally when someone says no? Most of us I suspect.

And another thing, how on earth do X Factor contestants get over being rejected. We often hear them say they will not let it put them off, but I wonder how true that is.