"Something in human nature tempts us to stay where we're comfortable. We try to find a plateau, a resting place, where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. Where we have comfortable associations with people, without the intimidation of meeting new people and entering strange situations. Of course, all of us need to plateau for a time. We climb and then plateau for assimilation. But once we've assimilated what we've learned, we climb again. It's unfortunate when we've done our last climb. When we have made our last climb, we are old, whether forty or eighty."
- Fred Smith, Founder of Fed Ex
The other night I spoke to a group of parents of elite high school athletes about the one thing that can keep us from reaching our potential. Based upon my research for my book Moments: Making Your Life Count For What Matters Most and my work with executives, entrepreneurs, and elite student and professional athletes, I have seen this phenomenon trap the potential of talented individuals, teams, and organizations.
It seems like a misnomer. Why would anyone have the fear of "SUCCESS?" In fact, we recently polled our online community through Twitter, Facebook, and other means to solicit their thoughts on the fear of success. One of the first responses we received asked if we had made a typo in our question. Here are some of the other responses we received:
- "Don't fear success, but be prepared for the increased expectations when you succeed."
- "Don't fear failure. If you are not having failures you are doing the same old thing and not getting outside the box. If you learn from failures you will achieve success."
- "Some people sabotage success - consciously or subconciously - because of fear."
- "It is sometimes easier not to try than to fail."
I think Fred Smith, in his quote above, captures the essence of the dilemma I call the "fear of success." Once we reach a level of success - a "plateau" - we tend to rest and remain comfortable. We feel safer postioned on the plateau rather than reaching for the next summit, because the next level might bring failure, heigthened expectations, criticism, and doubts. People who cannot persevere through this fear view success as a two-sided coin with failure on the other side of the coin.
In a future blog, I will talk about the stages of the "fear of success" model including how to get to the other side to reach your maximum potential. For now, stay focused on the opportunities you have before you. Focus on how you can make a contribution, and don't accommodate umerited fears. Challenge yourself to continue to climb and grow.
Be content, but never satisfied!
