Bloggers Journal

I recently wrote an article about why people let their fear of failure hold them back from succeeding.  However, with everything in life, there are always more than one view point.  When you think of reasons why you would not succeed, have you ever wondered if succeeding is actually what scares you?  I’ve had a think about this, and it stands to good reason to be scared of success.  Still confused?

When we think of success, we think of all of the benefits that can come from it.  If it’s financial success, we focus on the new material things we can enjoy in life.  That could be a bigger house, that 50″ flat screen TV you’ve had your eye on or even a new car.  All sounds pretty good.  But what else does success do?

Success gets you recognised

Recognition is something you would usually associate with the rich and famous.  Movie stars, footballers and the like are all recognised – they have succeeded.  You look at a lot of the famous bloggers on the internet, and their fame has come out of hard work.  But, the difference between their fame and that of the movie stars, is they started blogging not expecting the recognition.  Bloggers like Darren Rowse or Yaro Starak are well know “pro-bloggers”, they make a living from it, and people flock to their sites trying to emulate their success.

If you have managed to establish yourself, you soon become the go-to guy (or girl).  Pressure builds because people have an expectation of you to perform.  This can be quite intimidating to start with.  Others thrive of the notoriety they have attained.

You become scared of your potential

Potential is something we all have in us.  It is our ability to succeed.  Often when we succeed, and feel we have not put our best into it, we can become intimidated by the fact that if we put everything into an idea, what could we really achieve.  The important thing is knowing learning how to harness our potential and using it for great things.  When you know that you can do something, use that mentality to do something great.

I know I’m capable of doing anything.  I know that sounds really cocky and arrogant, but it is something I have learned through life.  It doesn’t make me any better or worse than people.  Knowing I can do anything if I work at it means that I know I will always have something to do.  I should always be able to succeed, even if I fail, I have still succeeded.  Why?  Simply put, having failed at one thing means you have succeeded at eliminating a possible opportunity.

Sometimes I am afraid of success more often than fearing failure.  How do you view success?  Does success make you work harder, or are you intimidated?

Image Credit – differentview