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Episode 2474:
Steve Pavlina explores the often overlooked fear of success, delving into how the anticipation of the consequences of achieving our goals can subconsciously hinder our progress. By encouraging readers to confront and understand the potential negative side effects of success, Pavlina provides a unique perspective on overcoming the barriers to achieving personal and professional aspirations.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://stevepavlina.com/blog/2004/12/fear-of-success-what-will-happen-if-you-succeed/
Quotes to ponder:
"Fear of success can be far more insidious because it’s almost always unconscious."
"Success requires change, and change has both positive and negative consequences."
"Asking, 'What will happen if I succeed?' can solve this problem because it focuses your conscious attention on those fears."
Episode references:
Growth Mindset Research by Carol S. Dweck: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/dweck-growth-mindsets
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[00:00:26] Must be 21 plus. Except on Fridays. That's where I answer your questions. Now today is Wednesday, and like I do every Wednesday, I like to share a little bit of inspiration with you. Now I just happened to be listening to this book by Dr. Bob Rotella called How Champions Think.
[00:01:40] And so I know I shared a quote from this book last week, but I just so happened to listen
[00:01:45] to another great quote from the same book. to get into that flow state and you're not sure why. This often happens with long-term goals that require intermittent action, like losing weight or transitioning to start a new business and eventually quit your job. One question I found helpful to ask in these situations is this.
[00:03:00] What will happen if you succeed?
[00:03:02] Forget about what you hope will happen weight off. You may worry about the loss of certain favorite foods from your diet and so on.
[00:04:24] It's rare that a tendency to grow stronger. The reason is simple, behavioral conditioning. When you avoid something you fear, either consciously or subconsciously, you automatically
[00:05:42] reinforce the avoidance behavior. buys intelligent workarounds for those fears made conscious, some of which may indeed be valid signals of unsolved problems. Going back to the weight loss example, if you lose a lot of weight, you probably will need new clothes. And if you don't have the money to buy new clothes, then that's a real problem you'll need to address, unless you don't mind wearing oversized outfits.
[00:07:02] Left unacknowledged, even a simple problem like this can be enough to subconsciously would actually take me farther from that more important goal. Growing my games business seemed like a goal I should want, but when I really thought about where I'd be if I achieved that goal, I realized it wouldn't be the success I truly wanted. That was a difficult realization for me, to recognize that my original ladder of success was now leaning against the wrong building.
[00:08:22] So I actually had to
[00:08:24] unset that goal once I really understood the likely consequences of achieving it.
[00:09:26] If you succeed, if you lose the weight, get the date, earn the promotion, start the business, get pregnant, quit smoking, become a millionaire, and stretch yourself.
[00:09:35] You just listened to the post titled, Fear of Success.
[00:09:38] What will happen if you succeed?
[00:09:40] By Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.
[00:09:46] We're driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring, Just go to indeed.com slash health right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on be helpful. That means instead of thinking about how luck may have led to our success, we remind ourselves that we are capable of
[00:12:20] learning and growing. Researchers have found that those that experience
[00:12:24] imposter syndrome may believe that they are incapable of improving their