Fear of Success is Strictly Psychological and Based in Perceived Inferiority
From 3arf
A man comes home from work and says to his wife, " I quit my job". Her response: " Why'? His answer: " They tried to promote me". While there is a mountain or research related to the fear of failure, there is considerably less about professionals suffering from fear of success.
This article will explore how people sabotage their success using the following behaviors:
- Imposter Syndrome. People suffering from fear of success experience an imposter's mentality, ruining their success and accomplishments. Although these professionals are competent, they feel unqualified and unskilled to deserve this success they have achieved. This feeling results in guilt and living in fear of being discovered unworthy. In some circumstances, the person is reluctant to go forward and take on new challenges.
- Discomfort with change. At a workshop I conducted, a participant asked me if successful people felt uncomfortable,My response: Successful people are simply more comfortable being uncomfortable. Expanding our comfort zone requires discomfort accomplished through risk taking. People with a fear of success lacks adaptability. Their confidence is limited to familiarity and repetitive tasks. Their needs are fixated in the security of the status quo. Result: the comfort zone fails to expand.
- Good Luck Illusion. People experiencing fear of success frequently believe that luck plays a great role in achieving success. Lucky, to me, is associated with winning the lottery or coming home form Atlantic City with considerably more than what you left with. Here, the luck has nothing to do with effort, skill or accomplishment. People who adapt well to success feel they control many of the elements required to achieve success. When goals are not attained, successful people change strategy and take personal accountability without blaming circumstances on bad luck.
- Loser Mentality. Joyce Brothers said, " Often, people who can't stand success are holding on as a "loser" to a position that brings them a great many rewards in self pity, dependency, or complacency due to underemployment or a lack of challenge. Not everyone is motivated by stretching his abilities, many are more comfortable with the least effort, even if it means less "success" and fewer financial rewards".
- Fear of Greater Expectations. When we succeed, those above us expect more of the same result in the future. People who are obsessed with success want the world to know of their greatness. At the other extreme, there are people afraid to risk leaving their comfort zone or safety net. Their low expectations produce nothing but the possible disappointment of not reaching a goal that stretches their capacity.
How do we know if we are suffering from fear of success? Suggestion: By either not setting goals or setting them low enough to meet their comfort zone. Success and failure are frequently considered opposite experiences. Both, however, are the same in one regard. Neither success or failure is ever final!
