How to overcome fear of success

Most of the time, our biggest obstacle to success is ourselves. I’m not going to ignore the importance of the environment, but we cannot control the environment. We can only control ourselves.

I found myself annoyed and lacking motivation this week. I have two assignments due next week, a midterm on Tuesday, three books I’m currently reading, and several books on the reading list. I have so much to do, yet I haven’t done any of it. There could be many explanations such as procrastination, laziness, etc. But if I dig deeper, I’d call it a fear of success.

I could not imagine what would happen if I finished all of the assignments and was free from the burden. I could not imagine what would happen if I finished the books I have been reading for three months. I could not imagine what would happen if I succeeded and how would my life change. I was too afraid to change.

People tend to stay in a steady state and not move from it. Our brain is always predicting, and staying in a familiar environment is a biological instinct to save energy. My current state is the steady state; as long as I keep the tasks above in my to-do list, I don’t have to think about what to do next.

It is reasonable for us staying in this state to save energy, making us easier to survive, yet I think this is when emotion steps in. We use reason to plan our life and future, but pure thinking doesn’t make you better; true change comes when we take action. Success is a byproduct of change. No change, no success.

Maybe there is some truth in the ad “Just do it”.