When fear has taken control of us, it often does so covertly and mysteriously. We often don't realize it until it's too late, at which point we realize that fear has prevented us from acting when we should have or has made us impulsive when we should have slowed down.
Generally speaking, successful people are aware of the significance of this double-edged sword, as there are some fears they choose to avoid and don't even care about.
5 Fears That Successful People Don't Allow To Control Them
1. Fear of Taking Risk
Successful people realize that success usually takes a lot of risks. Part of this is related to the principle of hard work. Hard work, including working long hours, making big and detailed plans, and large investments, may never pay off.
However, the benefit we get from it is discipline, practice, and experience although it may not come in the form of earnings, promotion, reward, or direct success. So, successful people are willing to take this risk because they see it as necessary, and they are not afraid to take risks, rather they accept them.
2. Fear of Underperformance
Successful people know that it's acceptable to underperform or even fail outright. So they try to do better next time and face the consequences, refusing to succumb to such fears. That is part of what sets them apart from people who never succeed at anything, but who have lots of "goals" and standards.
In fact, science shows that having a benchmark or reference standard can often undermine performance due to its psychological effects. For example, Bowman's Paradox says that senior leaders often take excessive risks when faced with the threat of underperformance.
As the goal becomes elusive, they become desperate and redouble their efforts to achieve it. Alternatively, if leaders ignore this fear and deal with problems on the ground, they may actually turn things around and they may even outperform performance standards as well.
3. Fear of Competition and Disruption
Successful people understand that anything worth their effort requires competition, whether at the individual professional level or the corporate level. They view competition as a way to improve both themselves and their business.
According to one study, competition makes successful business leaders innovate more, and in contrast, less successful leaders ignore innovation when confronted with competitors, which ultimately disrupts their work.
In other words, successful leaders see competition as a reason to embrace change, and that brings us to the next fear they ignore, which is the fear of change.
4. Fear of Change
Although it's common to be afraid of the unknown, successful people understand that change is a given. Therefore, they are not afraid of risk or change, and as was already mentioned, competition can compel innovation, creativity, and change.
However, successful people don't just wait until they have to change; they frequently lean in that direction when they encounter the inevitable change. So, successful people are frequently convinced directly that a significant change presents them with an opportunity.
For example, it's said that a lot of successful people, like Steve Jobs, succeeded by leading change.
5. Fear of Losing Importance or Influence
Many people fear losing their influence and significance, which leads them to take a range of behaviors. Some of them get confused and give up completely, so their influence in their field of work is weakened early because they refuse to respond.
Others respond with aggression, but this often alienates those around them, whether they are colleagues, clients, or family members, and ultimately others outperform them either because of competition or life itself.
Instead, successful people make a concerted effort to ignore their fear of losing influence and significance because they understand that good work retains its quality no matter what happens and can serve as a benchmark for the future. Also, they train and assist the person who might succeed them if they can, as they understand that retirement or stepping down is inevitable.
In a time of pandemic and widespread fears, it's critical to understand that you shouldn't worry about all fears. Since dealing with and responding to fear requires energy, it's sufficient for an individual to deal with the fears required for survival.
For this reason, many successful people ignore “false fears” and phobias, so that they can actually face real challenges, and suppress or face their fears, but they never let these fears control them.
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