I was driving home earlier today from a client meeting, and I had a moment of a type of self-awareness that I’ve never had before.
I realized that sometimes I allow myself to fear success. Even if it’s for only a few minutes.
This might sound strange to some, but it is definitely something I imagine affects others. As you grow in your career, and bigger opportunities come your way, you can either jump in with bags of confidence or hesitate a little , fearful of not being up to the task.
When I meet with new, bigger clients (not talking about their midriff circumference, but company size & budget) , I sometimes procrastinate just a little and up until today, I never really knew why.
It sort of makes sense, right? You get taken out of your comfort zone a little with greater challenges, and if you are in a mood of feeling weak, or lacking in confidence, you hesitate. And hesitation is one of the characteristics of failure.
The more I thought about this, I realized that while I might feel that slight hesitation off the bat, I quickly snap out of it, and start taking steps to ensure I take advantage of these bigger opportunities, embracing the challenges rather than fearing them.
Everyone knows there’s leaders and followers in this world. I think those that follow are the ones that allow this fear and this hesitation to take control of their actions, and thus, they are always following.
I’d be interested to hear from you in the comments if you’ve had a feeling of “fear of success” like this in the past.
I don’t usually post the Seth Godin style article, but it seemed appropriate today.