Saturday, February 25, 2012

Success: Fear or Desire?


Do you desire success?

Do you fear the idea of success?

Most people understand fearing failure more than fearing success, but you can fear one or the other or both. You can desire success and doubt yourself. You can achieve success and fear what will happen next. You can convince yourself that you will never achieve the kind of success you desire, so why bother. You can fear success before you ever give it a shot because it’s an unknown, and maybe you don’t do well with unknowns.

Fear is powerful. It paralyzes us. It crushes our dreams. It keeps us from new experiences and adventures.

Fear makes us cling to our tried and true comfort zones. What’s wrong with comfort zones? They aren’t always the best place to be. Sure they’re comfortable, but that’s because we don’t have to think about them. There’s no surprise. There's no challenge. It’s like being on auto-pilot.

Fear makes us play the What If game: What happens if I’m asked to do more than I’m able? What happens if I have to make a choice between family and career? What if people don’t like me? What if people don’t like my work? What if I’m a one-hit wonder? What if even after all of my success, I still fail? It’s legitimate to have these fears and worries and stresses, but you need to have faith in yourself. Believe in your capabilities. You're here to learn and live and experience.

Each of us is capable of success. And I'm not talking about the kind of success measured by others. To be successful you need to be the best representation of yourself. Maybe that means raising personal expectations. Maybe that means putting less limitations on ourselves. Maybe it means a little more work, but it's the kind of work you can be proud of.

You can go as far as you want. You don't need the auto-pilot. You're in charge.

~Ann Cory

10 comments:

Jan Springer said...

What a wonderful pep talk, Ann!
Thank you so much. :-)

Hugs!

jan

Mission View West Mobile Home Park said...

Great blog!

Ann Cory said...

Aww, you're sweet Jan! Love that you stopped by :) *hugs*

Ann Cory said...

Thank you so much Donna!! :)

Savannah Chase said...

I think we all want success but we might fear the unknown..We work hard to be successful and this is what pushes us to get to where we want.

Ray said...

This is one that should be posted on the wall.

Ray

Ann Cory said...

Well said Savannah :) Wanting to be successful allows me to take risks, work hard, and push away those fears. Sometimes. Most of the time, anyway :) lol.

:)

Ann Cory said...

Thanks Ray - and thank you for stopping by :) Very much appreciated! Have a wonderful weekend :)

Stephanie said...

Fear of Success stops more people in their search for their hearts desire than fear of failure. Thanks for the reminder. Great blog.

Unknown said...

It was nice to read your blog. the thoughts are very well laid out and it was refreshing to read. FEAR OF SUCCESS