Some problems in business can’t be fixed with spreadsheets or strategy meetings. Fear of failure hits different – it’s personal, it’s constant, and it doesn’t care about your MBA. Chris Allchin, founder of Allchin Management Private Equity Firm, knows this firsthand. When other business leaders come to him asking how to handle it, he doesn’t sugar-coat things or throw around feel-good phrases. Instead, he breaks it down into something you can actually use: gratitude and confidence.
His approach isn’t about eliminating fear – it’s about building something stronger than fear itself.
Handling Fear by Starting from Nothing
Chris’s approach to handling fear starts in an unexpected place – imagining having nothing at all. “I want you to picture right now that you don’t have your business, you don’t have your friends, your family, you don’t have the nice car that you have, you don’t have the shirt on your back, you have nothing,” he says. It’s not a comfortable thought experiment, but that’s exactly the point. He asks people to sit with that feeling. Picture the worst-case scenario. Feel it.
Then something interesting happens when you snap back to reality. “Fast forward to now – you’ve got the business, you’re in the beautiful clothes you’re wearing, your friends, your family, life is actually pretty good,” Chris points out.
Shifting Perspective to Focus on What You Have
This mental exercise isn’t just about feeling better. It’s about building a safety net in your mind. “Remembering how good life is now will serve you well when you’re trying to achieve something,” Chris explains. The fear of failure hits different when you know you’ve got something solid to fall back on. Most people think about what they might lose. Chris flips that around. He gets people to see what they already have. “If it fails, knowing that it’s okay because if you had to come back to where you are right now, you’re okay,” he says. It’s a simple shift in thinking that changes how people approach risk.
Building Confidence Through Preparation
But gratitude is only half the story. The other piece? Cold, hard confidence – the kind you can’t fake. “The confidence to know that you’ve educated yourself so much that the chances of succeeding are so high that you don’t even really think about the failure,” Chris explains. He’s not talking about positive thinking or empty affirmations. This is about putting in the work. Reading the books. Finding the mentors. Learning everything you can get your hands on. It’s what Chris calls “educating yourself through mentors, through books, through learning wherever you can.”
The thing about fear is it doesn’t go away – you just get better at handling it. Chris’s approach isn’t about eliminating fear. It’s about building something stronger. When you combine deep gratitude for what you have with rock-solid confidence in what you know, fear takes a back seat. This matters in private equity, where the stakes are high and the pressure never really lets up. But Chris’s insights work beyond just finance. Any business leader facing tough decisions can use this two-pronged approach.
Simple Practices for Everyday Resilience
What makes Chris’s method stick is how practical it is. You don’t need special tools or techniques. Just two simple practices: remember what you have, and keep learning. Do both consistently, and fear starts losing its grip. Sure, you’ll still feel it. Everyone does. But now you’ve got something better than fearlessness – you’ve got perspective and preparation. That’s what lets you take that step forward, even when the path ahead looks uncertain.
Chris keeps it real. He’s not promising fearlessness or guaranteed success. What he offers instead is a way to keep moving forward, even when fear shows up. Because in business, like in life, it’s not about never being afraid. It’s about not letting fear call the shots.
To learn more about Chris Allchin, check out his website and LinkedIn profile.
