Some of you reading this are being held back by something you don’t even know about. It’s deeply rooted in your subconscious and it’s stopping you from achieving what you want in life. It might sound funny at first, but that thing is a hidden fear of success, itself. It’s a very real fear that many people experience, but how do you squash it when you might not even be aware that it exists? 

The first step to getting over fear of success is understanding what it is. Deep down, the fear of success is usually just the sum of many micro-fears of change. How will your life be different if you succeed? How will it be better and how will it be worse? The truth is that you will lose some things when you reach your goals – or even before, on your journey toward them. Friends may be jealous and family may question your skill set. You have to weigh these against everything else you stand to gain or have gained already.

Keep these common mental blocks in mind:

• We think that we have unspoken agreements with people that we will always stay the same, but that’s not realistic. No one stays the same and, more importantly, you’re not supposed to.
• Good is the enemy of great. Fear of letting go of a life that’s “good enough” will prevent you reaching a life of greatness.
• This is simple, but more success comes with more workload and responsibilities. But success also brings the option to delegate, so you could realistically end up less busy than before.

There are workarounds for all of these sources of fear. Instead of being scared of change, we should be scared of things forever staying the same. In hindsight, it will be impossible to imagine ever staying in your life the way it was because we should always be growing and adapting.