It is important to recognize that people often don’t fear success itself.
Instead, their fear is centered on the potential consequences of success.
This article discusses the signs, causes, and effects of the fear of success.
Characteristics of the Fear of Success
The fear of success isn’t always easy to spot.
In many cases, they may come off as laziness, lack of motivation, and poor discipline.
No matter how this fear manifests, it seriously undermines people from living their lives to the fullest.
Identifying a fear of success often involves looking at patterns of behavior over time.
Causes of the Fear of Success
The fear of success can have a number of different causes.
Some of these include:
Imposter Syndrome
Imposter syndromecan sometimes contribute to the fear of success.
Sometimes people who experience success fear their achievements are undeserved or not as good as others in their field.
Misinterpreting Feelings Associated With Success
Excitement andanxietyshare many of the same physical signals.
Because of this, it is sometimes easy to misinterpret feelings of excitement as nervousness or anxiety.
This can cause people to avoid situations that trigger such emotions.
Fear of Backlash
Sometimes people fear success because of the anticipated potential social or relationship repercussions.
Researchers called this phenomenon backlash avoidance.
For example, women may avoid self-promotion because they fear it does not align with traditional gender roles.
Researchers have found that women tend to associate success with more significant negative consequences.
People tend to conform to these expected norms because they fear social or economic backlash.
Poor Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacyrefers to a person’s beliefs and ability to achieve their goals.
Self-efficacy can also vary across different domains.
People who have social anxiety worry about being judged or embarrased in social situations.
Because they experience intense physical symptoms of fear in these situations, they often avoid them altogether.
It might involve visualizing yourself as successful or participating in activities that contribute to success.
By exposing yourself to the thing that you fear, your anxiety will gradually fade with time.
Such approaches focus on helping people reduce stress and become more aware of their thoughts and feelings.
In some cases, your doctor may also prescribe medications to treat associated conditions such as depression or anxiety.
Start paying attention to some of the negative beliefs that you might have surrounding achievement.
Do you associate success with negative outcomes?
Are you worried about what other people might think?
What you may find is that over time your fear and discomfort become easier to deal with.
Fortunately, there are things you’ve got the option to do to overcome this fear.
Yilmaz H.Fear of success and life satisfaction in terms of self-efficacy.University Journal of Educational Research.
