Article Surfing Archive

Imagine telling a significant role model in your life something new and exciting. An idea or event that has stimulated you both mentally and physically. It can be anything from trying out for a dramatic play, joining a sports team, beginning a new career, starting a new marriage, losing weight, developing a new outlook, changing your image, or continuing your education. Instead of receiving an encouraging comment, what you hear instead is: 'That's ridiculous,' 'You're always daydreaming,' or 'You'll never make anything out of yourself.'

Negative statements such as the ones mentioned above can create fear of failure and fear of rejection within a person. This situation can leave an individual on the receiving end feeling helpless. Negative attitudes create barriers toward individual accomplishment. The implicit, or unspoken message, is: 'Whatever gave you the idea that you are motivated enough?.'

Do you remember a time when you or a friend finally made the team but the coach left you sitting on the bench? What kinds of feelings did you experience? Humiliation? Insecurity? What will it take for you to get off of the bench and become the athlete, the person, you truly want to become. What's preventing you from speaking up and letting the coach know that you're one terrific person, and given the chance you'll prove just how unstoppable you really can become.

Sitting on the bench, and not asserting yourself, is like being in a play without acting out the part. Do you go through life without getting involved one-hundred percent? Maybe it's because you believe you might fail, or even succeed, at what you set out to accomplish. Do you set yourself up for failure and sabotage your success by telling yourself that you can't perform well? Is it possible that you allow unproductive and negative vocabulary to dominate your thoughts? Negative self-talk takes away your motivation and is an inner barrier that must be eliminated.

Here are three ways to overcome fear of success:

1. Continually tell yourself that you welcome challenges. Stand ready and willing to challenge yourself to your maximum capacity. Move forward in your communication by deleting all negative self-talk.

2. Believe that whatever you set out to accomplish, you will give it one-hundred percent. Stop providing excuses to blame yourself, becoming disempowered from achieving your goals and increasing your self-esteem. Believe that your 'pride of accomplishment' motivates you to eliminate all the 'shoulds,' 'oughts,' and 'musts,' from your vocabulary.

3. Be the best you can. Continually 'see' yourself in an evolving way. Stretch every mental, emotional, and physical fiber within you. Believe and feel that you are one dynamite, ecstatic, and powerful person. Remember, your beliefs impact the way you feel and act.