Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Fear Of Success

What does success look, sound, feel, taste and smell like? 

Success is being the very best you can be. Success is attaining a goal. Success is earning a lot of money. Hmmm... Successful people are willing to do that which unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Which begs the question, what exactly is the 'that which'? Let's move on...

I contend the fear of success undermines our pursuit of success. This fear is rampant, almost disease-like. There is a clear reluctance to embrace the very action(s) which would lead to success. We desire the spoils of success, but in a designed act of pseudo-humility we justify behaviors which we already know will not lead to success. 

There's a saying, The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. How then might we collate fear and work into a clear path to success? I propose the following definition. 

Success is the application of work to a circumstance until all fear is gone.