Fear of Flying: Facing the Fear of Success

• Believe it or not, one of the most paralyzing fears is the fear of success.
• Success can feel like abandoning the people we care about.
• Or we might fear the way that accomplishing something big opens us up to criticism.
• Finally, our projects are often so much a part of ourselves that finishing feels like a death.

Success and Other People

• Working on any big project can cause conflict with the people around us.
• No matter how big a project or goal, we must make time for socializing, relaxing, and playing.
• Non-work time can be just as crucial to our success as the time we spend directly working towards our goals, because it recharges our batteries.

Fear of Falling

• Not achieving our goals has something really big going for it — if you don’t get off the ground, it won’t hurt if you fall.
• Striving for success always involves a risk — and the higher you climb, the farther you have to fall.
• A fear of failure or of negative criticism can instill in us a perfectionism that leads us to shy away from finishing a big project, and even from starting.

Who Do You Want to Be Today?

• We get fear of the unknown when we’re done with whatever big project we’re working on.
• It’s important to remember, though, that life doesn’t work like it plays out in our imaginations.
• But most important of all, we need to cultivate joy and satisfaction in the work itself — and in our lives as they are.

• Each of us has our own path to walk, and each of us has to find it on our own
• And even just accepting that there is some purpose in your life, without necessarily knowing what it is, can be a huge motivator