A fear of success sounds illogical, why should we be frightened or avoid something that sounds positive. However, sometimes we might feel that success could jeopardise things that are important to us, or create a new situation that feels unsafe. The outcome is we adopt behaviours that are barriers to success.

What is fear of success?

The fear that if we achieve something there will be repercussions, consequences or outcomes that we don’t want. What will be the price of success? The outcome is that we hold ourself back.

What leads to a fear of success?

Many things might lead to a fear of success. These might include:

• Fear of changing as a result of your success and losing who we are as a person, rather than viewing it as an opportunity for growth.
• Imposter syndrome, otherwise known as the ‘fear of being found out’
• Feeling vulnerable, as the work of Brene Brown found, it takes courage to make ourselves vulnerable.
• Introversion and not wanting to be in the spotlight or attract attention
• Worry of impact in other areas of our life, perhaps in our relationships, if things change.
• Fear of criticism, perhaps if people don’t agree with us or we make a mistake
• Fear of change and not knowing the potential repercussions of success
• Increased expectations on us to do even more and better. In turn viewing ourselves as failing if we don’t.

How might you recognise a fear of success?

There are some behaviours we may adopt that are indicators. These include:

• Procrastination
• Perfectionism
• Planning not doing
• Not seeing ideas through
• Self-sabotage
• Anxiety
• Lacking motivation – not getting on with things, thereby avoiding success

How might you overcome a fear of success?

If you have recognised some of the behaviours or thought patterns above, consider what might you achieve if you relished opportunities and embraced success. A fear of success develops to keep us safe in some way, even if we have not recognised it before. Therefore we need to find a way to feel safe in our success, which in turn will release us to go after the successes we are seeking.

• Notice your thoughts – when you have an elusive goal think about what might be the barriers to achievement. Do any on the list above resonate? Challenge yourself.
• Acknowledge what you notice. Where has it shown up in your life, what was the impact, what might have happened if you hadn’t held yourself back. Be kind to yourself in this awareness as it was done to protect you in some way.
• Do you have clarity of what success means to you? What would that give you?  What we decide here will be linked to what motivates us and our values.
• Visualise this success

Coaching can be a valuable way of exploring your goals and overcoming barriers to achievement, fear of success may be one of the barriers. Learn more about our approach to coaching.