fear of failure

I just saw a video made by Paulo Coelho, that famous author, about the "fear of failure". Well, he basically said that this feeling of fear of not pleasing people who matter is not really going away but you have to move beyond that fear and really do things that are important to you in the way that you want/like them. I can relate to this one, I thought.

Most of the time, I think of what others may think/say about my decisions/actions. Subconsciously, I think that I am molded by my patterns. By patterns, I mean people that I think are my equals before, but look where they are now. I have a specific person in mind, actually, and though I don't see him/her or talk to him/her often, I find myself constantly comparing myself with that person. I don't know why I'm this way. I limit myself to decisions that I think would be comparable to his/hers. Sometimes I think if not for this person, maybe I would have done my life differently. Or even have the "what-the-heck" attitude of just going with my instincts. Maybe if people close to me would find out who this person is, they'll probably wouldn't get why I even compare myself with him/her.

Since seeing this video, I'm afraid that I might be loosing out on a lot of things just because I fear what people might say. So now, I'll try to imagine myself without this person. Or even try to imagine every little detail of my life where only my decision matters. I'll try that. Well, as they say, there's no harm in trying!