The Fear of Success

Often, when we want to accomplish something, strangely enough, we put most of the obstacles ourselves, not the others and not the circumstances. Thus, although we want to achieve a certain goal, the way our mind is built and the fears we have, whether we are aware of it or not, can stop us on our way to success.

It may sound strange, but experts have been talking for more than 50 years about the fact that the fear of success is the same, if not greater, than the fear of failure. Who would have thought that when we propose something, our brain raises all sorts of problems, which make us deviate from the path we initially chose.

As we move toward our goals, we need to get an overview of them. This means thinking about the road we have to take, the obstacles we may encounter, as well as what has kept us in place so far.

Among the factors that prevented us from achieving something earlier, one of the most important is the fear of success, no matter how bizarre it may sound, and the fear that we are not good enough to succeed or that we do not deserve success.

Fear of success - what are the causes?

No matter how advanced modern medicine and psychology may be, the human brain remains, in many ways, an enigma. The way it works is not always clear to us and many of us neglect the component of personal development, in order to understand and discover how we can overcome certain blockages and fears that do us no good.

How many people, so many natures and mentalities. Thus, what for some represents an opportunity, for others may mean the limitation of what they have at this moment or the loss of some advantages that they are not willing to give up. In such conditions, to do more does not seem attractive to us, and success suddenly acquires a negative connotation.

This is when the fear of success makes its presence felt. Its mechanisms are usually unconscious and are based on a conflict between our deepest beliefs about who and what we are, what we deserve and the opportunities we are offered.

Unfortunately, the usual result of this conflict is the blockade, which makes it impossible for us to act in any way and urges us to abandon the situation. We stay in our comfort zone and run away from a new situation, which we do not know and do not know how to manage. To understand our fear of success and our fear of advancing on a path that can lead us to a set goal, we must understand the causes of this fear.

Resistance to change is one of the main reasons why we avoid entering new situations, starting in unknown ways. Everyone has a comfort zone, in which they feel safe because they do not present too many strangers or surprises, but only controllable situations, which we have faced before and to which we know how to react.

Most people feel the need for stability and prefer to have less, but to stay calm, to know what to expect from tomorrow. The idea of ​​giving up the security of the comfort zone in order to step into a new world can keep us in place, despite the fact that this could mean fulfilling our desires and gaining access to a higher stage of personal or professional life.

It all comes down to the idea that behind the success lies the unknown with unknown risks, which leads to alerting all defense mechanisms and the need to keep things as they are. Thus, we will abandon the road we started, to be sure that we will not suffer falling from too high a height. It seems that this fear haunts even successful people, who are afraid that at some point they might lose everything they have built.

Low self-esteem is one of the most damaging symptoms of modern man, full of frustration and insecurity. He who does not appreciate himself does not believe in his own strength, does not believe that he deserves it, and does not allow himself to be appreciated by those around him. He will always put obstacles in his way, he will build walls and he will be able to achieve much less than his real possibilities would allow.

When we have low self-esteem we will not take into account the fact that we deserve to be successful because it contradicts the oldest and deepest beliefs about what we can do, what we deserve and what we can receive in return from life.

Our psyche will have an instinctive tendency to vehemently reject any tendency that may lead to unknown realms. Such feelings are not unknown even to people who have accomplishments and are in a privileged position, they always have the impression that they are impostors and that sooner or later they will be discovered and their undeserved success will be withdrawn.

The fear of exposure is another factor that keeps us from advancing towards our goals. This is due to the fact that any success brings us to the forefront, makes us more visible and equally responsible, increasing the risks of disappointing more people, including us.

Anticipating the deception of the expectations of those around us actually reflects the negative way we perceive ourselves, the lack of self-confidence, and the fear of facing new situations and facing future situations. However, we must think that we can disappoint our loved ones at any time and that when we do something for our future, we must focus primarily on ourselves.

The fear of loneliness is also to blame for many giving up. Every professional person who devotes a lot of time to his activity outside the family steals time from his loved ones. Equally, people who do not have relationships do not find enough time to build new ones and to dedicate themselves to them.

Many successful people complain that they do not have a personal life, have gone through divorces, and even run out of friends. This aspect can scare any person who is not satisfied only with professional fulfillment but also longs for a rich personal life.

How do we overcome the fear of success?

All of these fears are largely ridiculous. And if we analyze them lucidly, we will see that any of these things can happen to us even if we do not climb to the heights of glory, but are content with an ordinary life, without making efforts to excel in a certain field.

The first step is to accept change as an inevitable part of life and try to be more open and flexible. In order to increase our mental comfort, it is best to carefully plan each step and try to find safety gates for every situation that may come our way.

Self-conditioning is what will help us in every stage of life. So we must always repeat that this is what we wanted, that we deserve a good life, we deserve recognition, and success is the culmination of our efforts, not a burden.

We must not forget that repetition is the mother of learning, so we will work and talk to ourselves until we understand what we need to do. The decision to succeed and to enjoy every stage of the road to success will prepare us for the moment when we will get there.

Negative thoughts, fears do us no good, on the contrary, they hinder us, tire us and burden us unnecessarily. Why not take each situation as it comes and solve it along the way, without wasting time worrying in advance about the drop of salt, which may or may not fall.

The best antidote to fear is experienced, which can help us build our contingency plans and appreciate the risks and obstacles we face.

The wisest thing, which will release a lot of the pressure we put on ourselves, is to focus on the positive aspects, without always putting the negative ones on the wallpaper. When we decide to start on the path to fulfilling our dreams, we will clearly have to give up certain habits, a certain routine.

It is, however, just as certain that they will be replaced by other aspects, perhaps even more pleasant, which will also become, in time, routine.

One correct way of thinking is that we cannot know exactly what will happen when we are faced with a whole new situation. As long as we have not achieved this type of success so far, all we think about how it will be are just assumptions and speculations, which our minds create and with which we sabotage ourselves.

By changing our habits and the way we think, putting our thoughts in order, we will have a new perception of the future.