Are you curious to find out how to overcome the fear of success?
Do you know what the fear of success means and how to overcome it?
As a business owner, leader, employee, or regular individual what scares you the most about success?
As strange as this might sound, other than the fear of failure, heights, sea, among other fears, some people struggle with the fear of success.
It is actually more common than you think.
Most people have a lot of concerns and anxieties about achieving success and the kind of changes it would bring to their lives.
Hence, they struggle with the fear of success either in business, work, or life generally.
Just like the fear of failure, the fear of success can keep you stuck.
Thereby, hindering you from achieving your goals and having a fulfilled life.
In this unique blog post, you’ll get to discover what the fear of success means.
You’ll also discover some of the causes and signs of the fear of success as well as how to overcome it.
This is so that nothing stops you from being all that you can be either in business, work, and life generally.
Read on to discover more.
How To Overcome Fear Of Success
When we talk about the fear of success what you might think is the fear of failure.
However, the fear of success isn’t necessarily the fear of failure or not achieving success.
Rather it is about what follows after achieving success.
Having said so, what is the fear of success all about?
Fear of Success; What Does It Mean?
The fear of success is also known as achievemephobia.
Achievemephobia means having excessive anxiety about achieving success.
It can simply be regarded as the fear of being successful.
Most people who struggle with the fear of success are actually afraid of the results and changes that follow success.
Sometimes, they fear that they don’t have the capacity to maintain success or keep the reputation that comes with success.
As a result of this mindset, they would prefer not to attain success, rather than achieve success and fail along the line.
You might begin to wonder that since success is a good thing, everyone should aspire to achieve success.
Hence, why would some people feel threatened to achieve success?
Well, certain factors might be responsible for the fear of success in most people.
Let’s consider what these factors are.
Causes Of Achievemephobia
The causes of achievemephobia could be due to physical, biological, environmental, or physiological factors and they include;
- Self-doubt and Self-guilt: most people doubt their abilities to achieve success.
They also feel undeserving of anything good in their lives.
Hence, even when they’re close to achieving success, they self-sabotage the whole process because they believe they’re not good enough to achieve it.
- Introverted nature: most people due to shyness also fear success.
This is because they are afraid of the limelight, fame, and recognition that comes with success.
- The possibility of losing ties with family and loved ones when they attain success.
Some people fear that when they become successful they might be on different levels and status from other family members.
This might cause a rift between them and ruin family relationships.
Hence, they fear that their achievements might affect their relationship with their family members.
- Inability to handle success and cope with the challenges that accompany it.
Most times success tends to attract envy, jealousy, and a lot of enemies.
So, they fear having to deal with such when they achieve success.
- Most times growing up in a harsh and critical environment can also lead to the fear of success.
A child who grew up always being told “you will never succeed”, “you’re never good at anything” might grow up believing so.
As such, this mindset affects them in their lives even as adults and hinders them from achieving success.
- Previous experience of underachievement, or disappointment at the brink of success.
Most people could also fear success because they’ve experienced disappointment in the past when they were very close to achieving success.
Overall, these are some of the reasons why some people are afraid of achieving success.
Signs Of Achievemephobia
Most people with the fear of success rarely recognize that they have such a problem.
Even more, most times they think that what they feel is the fear of failure rather than the fear of success.
This is because there seems to be a thin line of difference between the fear of failure and the fear of success.
The fear of failure can also be said to be anxiety over the inability to achieve success.
On the other hand, the fear of success has to do with anxiety over the results and responsibilities that come with achieving success.
Nevertheless, both have to deal with being afraid of making changes to one’s life.
Here are some signs that tell that what you have is the fear of success;
- You procrastinate a lot.
- Reluctant to set goals
- Abandoning projects at the verge of completion
- Self-doubt and low self-efficacy
- Comfortable in your comfort zone, refusal to make progress
- Lack of focus on goals.
- Avoid taking on roles and responsibilities that may bring you to the limelight or attract the attention of others.
- Lack of commitment and consistency to set goals.
- You feel your life will get complicated when you achieve success.
These are some of the behavior traits of people with the fear of success.
Most people who struggle with the fear of success have a general negative mindset about achieving success.
They have a lot of “what if questions”, “doubts”, and “insecurities” about achieving success.
As such they’re unable to remain committed to achieving success in their various endeavors in life.
Actionable Steps On How To Overcome The Fear Of Success
If you’re afraid of success, then you’re being an obstacle to your goals and accomplishments.
You’re stopping yourself from realizing your fullest potential either in your business, professional, or personal life.
As such, you need to let go of such a self-sabotaging mindset and overcome your fears that’s stopping you from being all that you can be and more.
So, here’s how to overcome your crippling fear of success/achievemephobia
Identify What Success Means To You
The first step you should take to overcome your fear of success is to identify what success means to you.
Success means different things to different people.
For some people, success means having a fat bank account, getting their dream job, and being recognized all around the world.
For others, it could be having a happy family or being able to afford basic needs.
Success to some people could also mean, having a stable career life or finding and fulfilling purpose in life.
So you need to understand what success means to you or what it means to be successful.
Does success mean having a certain amount of money in your bank account?
Does it mean being able to care for your needs, that of your family, and helping people around you?
Ask yourself these questions and any other question that comes to mind.
Put these answers down either in your journal or any writing material of your choice.
Do some deep soul searching and be honest when answering these questions.
More so you can identify what success means to you by taking a look around you to discover what’s important to you.
Is it family, money, or fame?
By honestly answering these mind-boggling questions, you’ll stand a better chance of identifying what success means to you.
Thus helping you have a clear understanding of how success will impact your life.
Consequently, helping you deal with your anxieties and overcome the fear of success.
Discover What It Is You’re Afraid of About Success
This is the next step you would want to take to overcome the fear of success.
For you to truly overcome your fears you need to know what it is that you’re afraid of.
After defining what success means to you, you need to determine what it is you’re scared of.
If the family is so important to you and success means having a happy family, then you need to identify what scares you the most about success and family.
Do you feel that when you become successful or get that promotion you won’t have enough time for your family?
More so, do you feel you don’t have what it takes to live up to the reputation of achieving success consistently?
Is it the lifestyle, responsibilities, or fame that comes with achieving success that you’re scared of?
Or you’re afraid of people looking up to you as a mentor when you achieve success and you disappointing them in the end?
Do you feel you’ll be a different person or lose your friends when you achieve success?
This is all about describing how you feel about success.
Just ask yourself what it is you’re afraid of the most about success and honestly answer the questions.
Put these answers down as well in your thought journal or any other writing material.
By identifying what your fear is, it becomes easier to know how to overcome it.
Recognize How The Fear Limits You
This is another important step to take to overcome your fear of success and achieve success either in business, work, and life generally.
Until you recognize what fear does to you, you won’t be willing to do anything about it.
Hence, to overcome your fear of success, you need to recognize how it’s limiting you from reaching your fullest potential.
You need to identify how it’s stopping you from being all that you can be either in business, work, and life generally.
How do you do this?
To do this, you need to identify instances, where your self-sabotaging tendencies have hindered your progress.
For instance, identify instances where you’ve procrastinated on important projects and it led to failure.
Identify instances where you opted out of a leadership position because you didn’t believe you were fit for that position.
After identifying most of these instances, visualize how your life would have changed positively if you had not self-sabotaged those opportunities.
By doing this, you’ll realize how your fear of success is depriving you of enjoying progress and fulfillment in your life.
Hence, be honest to yourself, take some time out, and identify specific ways your fear of success is limiting you.
Thus helping you identify how fear is holding you back and how to overcome it.
Develop A Strong Passion For SuccessÂ
Another thing you need to know to overcome your fear of being successful is to determine what you want for yourself.
Are you satisfied with where you are in life generally?
Do you want to just live life struggling to survive or to achieve financial freedom and live a happy life?
When your passion for success is greater than your fear of success, then nothing can stop you from achieving success.
Passion is the fuel that empowers the accomplishment of goals.
To develop a passion for success, you need to determine what’s important for you.
You need to know what you want for yourself.
Do you want to live a life of complacency and mediocrity?
Or do you want to make progress in life generally?
When you’re sure of what you want, make a serious commitment to stop at nothing until you achieve it.
Overall, a strong passion for success will help you take action to achieve your goals, despite the fears you might have.
Thereby, helping you overcome your fear of success.
Keep An Open Mind To Change
This is another important tip on how to overcome the fear of success.
Most times, the reason people are afraid of success is that they fear the changes or adjustments that success could bring to their lives.
For instance, when you achieve a status of fame or become a prominent or an influential personality in society, it becomes quite impossible to live your life like a regular individual.
This is because there are a lot of expectations and responsibilities that come with such status.
Some fear these changes to their lifestyle.
Hence, they try as much as possible to avoid the spotlight and achieving success in areas that could bring such changes to their lifestyle.
If you want to overcome the fear of success and be all that you can be, you need to keep an open mind to change.
You need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and keep an open mind to whatever changes that might come up in your life.
You need to be willing to overcome whatever challenges or setbacks that might come your way to achieving success.
Consequently, helping you be all that you can be and overcome your fear of success.
Develop A Positive Mindset
Another thing that could help you overcome your fear of success is a positive mindset.
A positive mindset is one that focuses on the positive side of things and the existence of an endless world of possibilities.
One of the reasons most people struggle with the fear of success is because they have a lot of what-ifs beliefs about success.
They think negatively about success and the effects it would have on their lives.
For you to get rid of your anxieties you need to overcome negative thinking and be positively minded.
You need to believe in the endless possibilities that are before you.
Thereby, helping you get rid of negative thoughts and giving you the confidence you need to achieve your goals.
Consequently, helping you overcome the fear of success.
Challenge Every Feeling Of Low Self-Worth And Self-Sabotaging Beliefs
Another thing you must do to overcome your fear of success is dealing with low self-worth and self-sabotaging beliefs.
Many people tend to think of themselves as worthless or undeserving of anything good in life.
This kind of mindset might be deeply rooted in ugly childhood or past experiences of growing up in a negative environment.
If you want to get rid of your fear of being successful you need to challenge such negative thinking habits.
Learn to see yourself as deserving of goodness or happiness in life.
Thus encouraging yourself to work on your goals and achieving success.
Consequently, helping you overcome the fear of success.
Get Professional HelpÂ
The last tip we have for you on how to overcome your fear of success is to seek professional help.
Just like any other form of anxiety disorder or phobia, achievemephobia can also be treated by a therapist.
This might not necessarily involve clinical procedures.
However, some behavioral therapies and medications that are used for the treatment of signs related to phobia and anxiety could be recommended.
Thereby helping you deal with your anxieties and overcoming the fear of success.
Final Words On How To Overcome The Fear Of Success
That’s all the tips we have for you on how to overcome the fear of success.
Remember, the fear of success is just as bad as the fear of failure.
It can keep you stuck and hinder you from making progress either in business, work, or life generally.
Use these tips to overcome your fear of success and be the best person you can be in all your endeavors.
How has the fear of being successful limited you in life generally?
Share your thoughts with us in the comments section, we would love to hear from you.
Also, do well to check out other blog posts that have been linked to this post.
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