Overcoming the Analyst’s Fear of Being Wrong

When you’re starting your career, it’s completely normal to be afraid of making mistakes. You want to do things right, follow every instruction, and prove you can be trusted with the work. After all, your job isn’t just what you do — it’s a big part of your life, your reputation, and how you measure your own growth.

But that same fear that pushes you to be careful in the beginning can quietly start to limit you as you grow. You second-guess your ideas. You wait for someone else to confirm your thinking before taking action. You stop taking ownership because playing it safe feels easier than being wrong.

For a long time, that was me. I wanted to be precise and reliable — but underneath, I was afraid of missing something, afraid that a small mistake could undo the trust I had built.

The turning point came when I realized that fear doesn’t disappear on its own — you have to replace it with something stronger: ownership.

That’s when I started doing one small thing differently.

I stopped asking for directions.

And I started declaring my intentions.

For example, instead of saying, “Should I build the pipeline this way?” I began saying, “I’m planning to make this a modular pipeline so we can update tables without a full refresh — does that sound like the right approach?”

It’s a subtle change, but it transformed the way I worked. Declaring my intentions showed that I had already thought through the problem. It invited collaboration instead of correction. It created space for feedback, but from a position of confidence and ownership.

And most importantly, it helped me lose the fear of making mistakes. Because mistakes stopped being a verdict — they became part of the learning process.

Growth doesn’t come from being perfect. It comes from having the courage to think, act, and learn in public. The more you practice ownership, the less power fear holds over you.

Working on your confidence was one of the most important things that helped me to Start with Data, End with Value.