Do you have a burning desire to do something, know you are wildly capable of doing it, but something is holding you back? Has the past year taken its toll on your confidence?
Do you ever stop to ask yourself what exactly it is that is stopping you? Fear of rejection? Fear failure? Or maybe fear of success?
It took me a long time to realise that fear of failure and fear of success are basically the same thing. Fear of not being good enough. When you think about it, fear of failure makes no logical sense, because anyone who has achieved anything in their life will tell you they have experienced failure of one sort or another many times. Ask anyone, ‘overnight success’ takes years of focus and dedication. My own fear of failure is quite simply “what will people think?” The answer is “probably not much, most people are too busy focussing on their own lives.
Fear of success is basically fearing not being able to live up to a standard, not being able to deliver what’s expected or fear of not being able to keep up with demand.
When we come from a place of good intention and capability, these fears boil down to being excuses we tell ourselves to keep us stuck.
Whatever our dreams, goals or desires, we will only be truly happy and fulfilled when we learn to appreciate the journey. This is why people say ‘success will not make you happy’, because being happy is a side effect of living a life filled with consistency and discipline. Through showing up for ourselves and experiencing progress, we can start to celebrate every tiny ‘win’ along the way, practice gratitude and stay in momentum. As Tony Robbins often says, we are only ever truly happy when we are making progress.
Enjoy the journey. Focus on today, have a goal but enjoy the process of achieving the goal.
Keep showing up for yourself, keep making a tiny difference in each day, keep your goals in mind and never ever ever give up. Success always comes at the last attempt.
I believe in you.
Clare Honeyfield is a coach working with entrepreneurs and creatives.
You will find her on social media raving about all things ‘creativity, courage and community.
