Most people think that they’re not affected by fear of success. That it would be silly. That success is all they want, their motivation, their desire and their focus. Lots of fairly successful people think that they have reached their dream, that they’ve risen to a high altitude and all they have to do now is stay there. Well, what if that’s not quite true, what if there is an underlying fear of success that manifests in reasoning that only prevents attainment of real success …

You’re in for a big surprise to learn what are some of the signs of fear of success.

Goals, for example. Are you an avid goal setter jumping from one goal to another or, quite the contrary, you are constantly trying to reach them? It’s easy to trick oneself in believing that just because you’re constantly setting and achieving goals, you are successful. But the truth is, this constant need to chase the next shining thing, metaphorically speaking, is in fact a manifestation of the fear of success. Unless you can stop to recognise, enjoy and celebrate success, the drive comes from the fear of acknowledging you are comfortable with achieving success.

The other side of goal setting that is driven by the fear of success, is setting goals that are so high and hard to reach that they become unattainable. There’s merit in setting optimistic goals, but when they are a tad too optimistic, then there might be a hidden fear of actually achieving them that stands at the core of setting them.

Last, but not least, when it comes to goals, is the postponing of either setting them or working on them, because …

There’s another scenario that might be familiar to you. How often do you use the word “because” during a day? Are you in the job of your dreams? Well, no, because … Are you driving the car of your dreams? Well, no, because … Are you happy with your healthy diet? Well, no, because … Are you charging as much as you know your services are worth? Well, no, because … I’m sure you’re getting the picture and can fill in what’s happening in your life.

“Because” is the biggest give away for fear of success. It is easy to come up with very reasonable excuses not to go after your dreams, because reaching them is such uncharted territory. You’re accustomed with not reaching them and fear of failure is much more familiar, as you’ve been there before. But success? Oh, that’s a very different story, one that is new, one that creates a different outcome, one that can scare you outright, so better not get there.

Afterall, most of the celebrity cases of success ended up badly, people turn out to be mean, money and fame can come back to bite badly. Lottery winners lose it all, money takes over lives, true meaning is lost and the list of things and situations that can go bad is endless, because …

If there’s a yes, a might be, even an “oh” coming to your mind whilst reading this message, then you might want to explore how much does “because” run your life. Fear of success telling you that’s not your case? Then you definitely need to uncover what’s really going on, simply because ..