8 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Success and Start Thriving

When most people think of overcoming a fear, they probably think about conquering their fear of heights, spiders, confined spaces, clowns, or something that’s a fairly normal fear. Most wouldn’t say they needed to conquer their fear of success. Unfortunately, some people are actually scared of being successful. They’re afraid of failing while trying to be successful, so they let that fear hold them back from even trying to achieve their goals. This fear of success keeps many people from their lifetime dreams simply because they don’t want to ever be seen as a failure or learn that their dream is just that—an unrealizable dream.

But failure isn’t the end or even the opposite of success. It’s a learning tool, just as doing research online or talking to an expert is a way of learning what to do and not to do. By learning to use fear and failure this way, you can start on your successful journey to accomplishing your dreams. First, though, you’ve got to learn to overcome fear. That’s much easier said than done, but by learning about these eight different ways of conquering your fear of success, you can do it.

1. Think Positive

People who have a fairly negative view of life tend to be less successful. That’s because they’re often always seeing the downside to something. They see what could happen if they failed, not what might happen if they succeeded. Do your best to at least acknowledge that there is a potentially positive outcome of anything you do, and try to cut out negative people from your life. If you’re surrounded by negativity, it doesn’t matter how positive you are—you’ll eventually find that negative energy infects you.

2. Know Yourself

Do you know who you truly are? Do you know what you love, what you’re passionate about, and what you need to grow and thrive as an individual? Taking time to reflect on who you are, what your life is about, and what your purpose is can help you re-focus on you. This lets you see what tools you have to become successful. You may be surprised that after a little bit of self-reflection, you find that the things you feared aren’t actually that big of a deal.

3. Have a Resource Library

When you’re feeling uninspired, negative, or like a failure, have a resource library to go to. This library can include anything that helps give you the boost you need to get back on the track to success. It might include some of your favorite quotes, stories, or articles about success and successful people. Anything that inspires you can go in your resource library. It doesn’t even have to be anything written. Photos, videos, and songs can help get you out of a rut.

To start building your resource library, you can search online for quotes about success. You can also think about anything that motivates you. Watching motivational speakers can also help provide you with inspirational quotes, ideas about overcoming your fears, and boost your confidence level.

4. Learn About Your Fears

Many people fear what they don’t understand. If you’re incredibly scared about something, take the time to learn about it. It won’t be easy, especially at first. However, the more you learn, the more you’ll come to understand that the object of your fear isn’t necessarily as scary as you’ve built it up to be. Often, we make things seem much, much worse than what they really are. By learning about failure and how you can use it to your advantage, you may come to see that it’s not the horrible monster you’ve imagined it is.

5. Live a Balanced Life

Do you have balance in your life? If you’re committed to succeeding almost to the point of obsession, you’re probably not paying attention to some other part of your life. Don’t forget that part of being successful is living a full life that fulfills you in all ways. Be sure you spend enough time with your family and friends, that you have hobbies you enjoy doing, and that you spend time relaxing. You’re not necessarily successful if you build an industry-leading business but don’t have a great home life. That doesn’t mean you won’t have to sacrifice every now and then, but overall, aim for balance.

6. Visualize Your Success

How will things look when you’ve achieved your success? Visualize what you want your life to look like at that point in time. What do you see? What fears have you conquered to get there? Write down in as much detail as possible your life after you become a success. You might also make a list of the fears or negative things that could hold you back from this life. With these goals in mind and a list of things to conquer, you can set out to become the success you’ve envisioned.

7. Have a Plan

While it is possible to be successful by simply being in the right place at the right time, it’s also highly unlikely that it will happen. You’ve got a much better chance at achieving success if you have a plan. Using your vision of a successful future, write down the steps it will take to get there. Break down your larger, overall goal into smaller steps that you know you can achieve. Then create the steps needed to get to each of these smaller goals.

Sometimes, the overall goal by which you measure success is the source of your fear. Saying you want to build a business from the ground-up is actually a very vague goal. If you break it down into small goals of acquiring a certain number of clients or bringing in a specific amount of money every year, then break that down into monthly goals, then break those into daily goals, you’ll be left with some very manageable steps. Doing this may actually remove any fear of success you have.

8. Don’t Obsess!

Finally, don’t obsess over being successful. This can lead to the fear of never achieving your goals. Instead, focus on the journey rather than the destination. As long as you’re moving forward and meeting many of your small goals, you’ll be fine.