The Fear of Success
Most of us, including me, fear success more than we fear failure.
What do I mean by that? Failure means that we are able to, or let’s say ‘only’ able to do a regular job, get a regular salary, depend on our employer for that regular salary, and we have to get up every day at a certain time to do the same job, over and over.
Now, 20 years ago, that was seen as a success. That was actually success. But today, for the person wanting more. That is failure.
And what is success today? Success means getting up earlier and going to bed later. Success means posting every day on social media. Success means posting twice a day on social media on multiple platforms. Success means making your own money from your own business, from your own investments from your own side hustle.
In addition to all of this, don’t forget that you have to:
- maintain your health by exercising
- eat a balanced (and sustainable) diet
- socialize with people who feed your soul
- take breaks on a schedule even if you don’t feel tired
- be so organized that it starts to feel like a reflex
- take time to read every day
- and so much more.
Essentially, success means that you cannot sit in mediocrity, you cannot have just a nine to five. Success means that you have to be ‘on all the time’, and that the best version of you needs to be awake all the time.
So this is why I say we fear success more than we fear failure: because it means that we have to be our best selves, all the time.
Most of us don’t want to have to be our best selves all the time. Sometimes we’d like to wake up at 10am on a Sunday morning, like I did today, and just do anything, or nothing. But if you want to be successful, you have to be on for five years, ten years, twenty years consistently.
You can’t just wake up whenever you feel like because it’s your day off. You have to do something every day. You have to upset and alter your circadian rhythm to be successful in today’s world.
So, again I ask, what do we fear most, failure or success?
If you’ve read this far, what are your thoughts? Let’s have a conversation.
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