Are you prone to procrastination?

If this is a common pattern for you, you have probably wondered why you keep doing this, despite the obvious negative impacts on your career, and sanity.

Many people procrastinate because they are secretly afraid that what they produce won’t be good enough. However, have you considered that you may be procrastinating because you are secretly worried about succeeding?

Why might you be frightened to succeed?

Pride goes before a fall

Many people have been brought up to believe that success is dangerous because the higher you fly, the further you have to fall. If you never get your hopes up in the first place, you can’t be disappointed. There is, of course, some truth in this, but would you really rather live a life where every possibility of excitement and joy was flattened? Ups and downs are part of life.

Successful people aren’t nice people

Sometimes we have been conditioned to believe that managers, or people with money etc are intrinsically not nice people. We can probably all think of examples which ‘prove’ this rule, but clearly it isn’t logical. And, if nothing else, you can be an exception.

I don’t want to be in the spotlight

Being in the spotlight or the centre of attention can feel very unsafe, especially if you have experienced negative attention in the past. The truth is that some people will try to cut down ‘tall poppies’. This kind of person is likely to be a tiny minority, however, and are you really going to hold yourself back because of them?

I don’t deserve success

This may be a self-esteem issue, or a case of imposter syndrome. Either way it is likely that you are creating a story about the kind of person who does deserve success: that they are somehow better than you. The truth is that they are quite probably just luckier. If not, find out the secret of their success, and apply it.

I don’t want to hurt anyone

Maybe you are worried that people might feel bad about your success? You are almost certainly projecting how you might feel onto them. Yes, it might trigger some people, but it could also inspire others. And if you are successful, you are going to be in a position where you are better equipped to help others, whether through mentoring, or financially.