Many people are familiar with the fear of failure and would admit they suffer(ed) from it to a certain extent.
Not many people are familiar with the fear of success, but it’s just as real. The fear of success often shows up as an excuse to not go ‘all-in’ on your goals.
Underneath you’ll find some real examples from my life (this is only slightly embarrassing):
“I should not work out too often, because that would mean I won’t fit in my favourite shirts anymore.”
Me, when I was 24 years old.
“We should not spend more money advertising our sunglasses, because we would sell out in no-time and customers will get angry we have nothing in stock.”
Me, when I was 28 years old – running a company selling sunglasses.
“I should stop promoting the Wisdom for Goldfish newsletter, because if more than 2,000 people subscribe I’ll have to start paying for the email software.”
Me, a week ago (for a brief second).
If you grow fast, things break and complications arise.
But that’s OK.
If you didn’t break things along the way, you probably could have grown faster. Growth doesn’t pair well with perfection.
Breaking things is part of your journey to success. Embrace it. Challenge yourself to break things as fast as possible.
Instead of…
“I should not work out too often, because that would mean I won’t fit in my favourite shirts anymore.”
say:
“I challenge myself to work out so hard, I won’t fit in my favourite shirts anymore by the end of the year.”
(As it appears, this is actually not as easy as I initially thought 10 years ago. What a fool I was!).
Move fast, break things. Don’t let the fear of success hold you back.
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