tips-for-success

Your fear of failure might just be the thing that's stopping you from succeeding spectacularly and the thing that...stops you...from...doing the...yada, yada, yada... Honestly, I couldn't go through with it. I don't think I can read another article about how important failure is. Let alone write one. The necessity of failure to an endeavor is widely appreciated, but there's something else out there that's spoken about in hushed tones in dark alleyways. It can equal fear of failure when it comes to blocking what you want, but it's something a little more subtle, a little more nuanced, a little more insidious. It's the Fear of Success . At first it seems oxymoronic that you might be scared of the one thing you want, but let's take a little look at where the fear of success comes from. Things Will Change Gaining success changes things. Drop the bowling ball of success into the pudding that's your carefully crafted life, and you end up with a big ol' mess. You stand to lose parts of your life that you expect and trust to be there, whether it's a steady job, a comfortable routine, a nice work/life balance or simply a sense of knowing where you are and what you're doing. The arrival of the new requires a certain amount of upheaval, and the fear of losing what you have right now - even if only for the reason that it's familiar - is all too real. You Don't Deserve It Success has arrived, whoop-de-doo! So why does it feel so awkward, like you're wearing someone else's shoes? You've worked for it, you've sweated for it and sometimes you've fought for it. But deep down you don't give yourself credit for it, and so instead you chalk it up to luck. To being in the right place at the right time. To being a happy accident. All the time there's a gap between the success you might earn and the success you feel you deserve, you'll never fully step into it. The fear that you're not worthy of it will stop you. People Will Find You Out Just how long do you think it'll take for people to figure out that you're not all you're cracked up to be, especially now that you're more in the spotlight than ever? Picture yourself having landed the top job in the White House . Sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, you start wondering when people will figure out that you're more Teddy Ruxpin than Teddy Roosevelt. You might be able to ride the wave for a while, but sooner or later people will catch on to the fact that you don't really know what you're doing and that you're not good enough to be where you are. They'll see that you're just a big ol' fake. The additional attention and scrutiny that you expect - whether real or imagined - can be enough to flee in the face of any potential success.