Wednesday

Fear of being a Winner!

Most people can put a conversation about fear of failure.

It's socially acceptable, it's easy to look at the bits and pieces of your identity that support such a fear ....and there's lots of strategies around to help you deal with it.

Fear of success is another matter.

It's illogical - why on earth would you be scared of succeeding?

And it's really hard to look under the rock with this one - there are dark and sinister motivations that appear too hard to face. Easier to pick holes in it and diss it into irrelevance.

But just look at Lance Armstrong - he's just come third in the Tour de France - and the critics have come out in force, still claiming that he is a druggie, that it's wrong that he compete and basically trying to pull him down.

.....Gulliver's Travels all over again!

And another news item is about a man who donated his kidney to someone he didn't know out of the goodness of his heart. Just after the operation, while he was still in hospital - he got a phone call from a woman he'd never met. She was angry that he had not donated his kidney to her husband and told him that she wished his remaining kidney would fail and that he should die......? go figure!!

The theory is that people would rather tear a winner down than emulate them - it's easier and more socially acceptable.

Hugh McLeod said:
"To get a lot of people to hate you, all you need to do is make a lot of money doing something you love."

In fact, if you really want to tick people off and get them really angry, all simply replace "make a lot of money" with any number of phrases that reflect success, such as:
  • have a lot of fun....
  • help a lot of people.....
  • be better at it than everyone else......
  • make a huge difference........
  • have a happy successful family..........
  • have huge business growth.....
  • win an award......

Unfortunately, there's a lot of people who believe you can't be magnificent and awesome without having an unfair advantage.

That's why they throw themselves with passion, attacking the successful people.

This is one of the dark truths of human nature that lie under the rock of "Fear of Success".

The tall poppy syndrome is alive and well....and we all know it!

Some distinctions that you might find useful...(as only winners or people strongly desiring to be winners ever read my blogs) are:
  • If people are calling you arrogant it's because when they see self confidence and focus, they are seeing what they lack and they have to attack it to make themselves feel justified in their comfort zone
  • If you are pissing people off, that is what a leader's job is to do- to rattle the status quo - celebrate your success!
  • If you are a winner, you will attract other winners - who are usually great to be around and who will encourage you to greater success!
  • Being a winner requires you to not care about what people think about you - here's a post to help you do that.
  • Feed the people who support you and starve the people who don't...with your attention.
  • If you make a mistake, get straight back onto your path, like the Samurai...
  • Winners get energy and focus from having a vision
  • Meltdowns are just a great place to find new possibilities!
  • You can find solace and inspiration in music!

......let me know if you can think of any more distinctions that can help support and encourage winners - it's a jungle out there and maybe we can create a resource for our winners - let me know!

......and last but certainly not least - Thank you for being a winner and reading my posts!

Email Mike...

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