What You'll Discover In This Episode:
Surely, you’ve experienced a fear of failure at one time or another in your life. It’s a pretty common fear, especially for entrepreneurs who must often risk a lot to open their business. I’ve certainly felt it.
But how about the fear of success? Honestly, I didn’t know it was a thing until I experienced it for myself only a couple of years after starting my own business. Looking back, I recognize I had a fear of success because I was putting a governor on how big I was playing, all because I had some ingrained self-limiting beliefs I had yet to challenge.
Back then I realized I was onto something good. I was making a big impact in my clients’ lives. I was business savvy. Clients were coming to me. There was growth on my team. I was seeing the revenue increase. I was also seeing what was possible in regard to how that revenue increase could change my family’s lifestyle. All positive results of my hard work and drive. And yet, I wasn’t allowing myself to grow bigger beyond a certain revenue amount. I was not acting in alignment with my lofty goals.
At the end of the day, I figured out I had an underlying belief that further success would change the dynamic of my relationship with my husband of 15 years which I certainly didn’t want. We had a great relationship that meant more to me than anything else in the entire world.
Thoughts rooted in fear crossed my mind. I can’t have two best things in my life. He won’t be happy if I make more money than him. Success will change the financial dynamics in my household. Our relationship will never be the same. Instead of questioning the validity of those fears, I let them marinate and fester. I grew resentful and started playing smaller. And the whole time, my husband, my biggest cheerleader who had always rooted me on and had never shown a single sign that he’d ever be bothered or intimidated by me making more money than him, had no idea I harbored such feelings. He had no idea that I was holding myself back from reaching greater levels of success in my business because of my fears.
Well, one day I mustered up the courage to open an honest conversation with him and share my beliefs. He stomped them out without a second thought, ensuring me I was dead wrong. I walked away from the conversation thinking, Damn! My mind is really creative because there were never any clues, evidence, or positive proof that he would have an issue with me being successful.
And yet, I had held onto those beliefs as truths for so long. From that day forward, I chose to believe differently and so much has become unlocked for me and my business. Connections, team members, partnerships, memberships, contracts, business growth, higher profits, vacations, and a better life for family and me.
What fears are you holding onto that are holding you back from trying something new? Hiring a team? Raising your rates? Creating a new offering? Growing your business? Going after your dreams?Isn’t it time you stop allowing those fears to dictate your actions to the point of sabotaging your success in both business and life?
In this episode of Productivity Straight Talk, I dive into the fear of failure and the less common but still damaging fear of success that often plague business owners. I break down what such fears look and feel like in your business and how you can combat them, shift your beliefs, and fuel your actions to better align with your goals.
