Being scared of success is more common than we think although its counterpart “fear of failure” is more often addressed by self-help gurus. In this article I will review 3 of some of the reasons we are scared of success and what some solutions might be.

1. Although the reasons why we may fear success are numerous, the number one reason may be that we don't want to change. After all we all like to remain in our comfort zone. Being successful may require too many changes that would threaten the status quo with our families, our friends or our career.

2. In any situations where there are changes, there will always be of course positive and negative side effects. If we don't think things through, we will unconsciously put more weight on the negative and procrastinate or stop our efforts toward our goal.

3. It may be that the reasons why we want to be successful are not strong enough. If we want to be successful to be accepted by others, or to win the approval of our friends, these reasons will not give us a strong foundation. Because if we work very hard, make lots of efforts and in the end we are not accepted or approved, we will have made all those efforts in vain. I believe that unconsciously we know that, That's why very often we end up sabotaging ourselves in the process of reaching for success.

So what should we do to stop being scared of success?

We should ask ourselves this question in advance: “what will happen if I succeed”? We must become aware of our hopes and our fears and attempt to really ascertain what could happen. By being aware, we will be less likely to let fear immobilize us.

For instance what I feared the most about being successful had to do with the extra attention that I would attract. That made me feel very uncomfortable because my self-esteem and self confidence were rather low. It's only after working on myself and embracing a spiritual path that I started to see tremendous success.

Any successful goal brings with it positive and negative consequences. If we consciously or unconsciously focus too much on the negatives, then of course we are less likely to be successful in any goal that we set for ourselves. The answer is not to ignore the negatives. Just being conscious of them, accepting them and then moving along is enough. This is particularly true if the positive consequences outweigh the negatives. That's a very essential attitude to adopt for those who are scared of success.