Fear of Success

Often as a teenager and young adult, I would hear my mother ask me, “Why are you afraid of success?” I would often reply, in anger, “I’m not afraid of anything!” Typical response from a young person who feels they have no fears and that they can conquer anything.

The reality is that I was afraid. But I didn’t know this consciously. All I knew was that I didn’t want to fail, which by the way is the opposite of success.

My mother knew me better than I knew myself. Not only did she know me, as a product of her, but also she had been around for a while. She had had her own experiences with successes and failures, and was clearly able to see my fear of success characteristics better than I could.

Knowing Thyself
I always had some creative idea that I would start and not complete. There was a test that I might have the next day and if I didn’t feel confident that I could master and retain all of the information from the test, I just wouldn’t study. I was starting many things in my life and not finishing.

However, in my mind, I wasn’t quitting because I was afraid. I was quitting because I was tired, I didn’t have enough time, or what if I didn’t do well enough. I fooled myself into believing that it wasn’t fear at all. It was just that…

The truth was I was sabotaging myself. Was I really that afraid to do well? What would happen if that creative idea turned into some moneymaking fortune? Or, I was a straight A student, instead of settling for being a B student?

An incomplete life was starting to trail me. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t born to fail or be mediocre. I was born for success.

Steps to Success
Therefore, to get over my fear, first I began to complete small projects that could be completed in a day or less. Next, I started working on old outstanding projects rather they could currently benefit me then or not. Then I started to tackle the hard stuff, facing my fears dead on.

I wrote out my goals and steps it would take to accomplish them. I broke them down in to small bits. I found that I could better digest handling small projects at a time.

I actually started aligning my goals with my actions. Something I hadn’t done before. Before I just said I wanted to be rich, wanted to have the best grades, or wanted to be an entrepreneur in my early twenties. But the reality was, I wasn’t doing anything to make that happen. My plans, goals and dreams were not successful.

However, when I stopped being afraid to succeed, I accomplish more. I began to feel good about myself, and began to accomplish a lot more. Then one day, I looked back and saw trail of success.