Are you Afraid of Success?
22. Aug, 2011 
15 Comments
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Empower Success Art Print | by: ishootnouns
Most of my clients are afraid of being successful. Heck, even I struggle with it. It’s been popping up a lot lately when I’m coaching artists and crafters, so I thought an article was in order. Are you afraid of being a successful artist or craftsperson? Read on to find see the symptoms and get some tips for overcoming your fears.
Symptoms of fear of success
* Procrastination. Do I really need to say more about this one?
* Lack of follow through. Did that famous blogger email you and ask you if you wanted to do a blog a swap? Do you find you are too busy to get back to her to schedule it? Or maybe a manufacturer has asked you to submit some artwork to them, but you just haven’t been able to get to the post office to mail the package?
* Perfectionism. I hear excuses like the following a lot. “I can’t start marketing my blog because I want a better blog banner.” “I’m not ready to tell people about my Etsy shop yet, because I want to put up better pictures first.”
If this sounds like you, you may be your worst enemy right now. Take some time to start working through your fears and discover your fullest potential. A great place to start is to figure out WHY you are afraid of success.
Why are you afraid of success?
* Are you afraid you will have to change your lifestyle? If you become successful, do you feel like you will lose the ability to have balance in your life? That you might be expected to be a “workaholic”? Or won’t be able to spend enough time with your children? Or maybe you are afraid you won’t have time to create art?
* Are you afraid of the expectations that you think will come with success? That you will have to keep producing bigger and better pieces of art? That if you get a book published, you will be expected to have another one published?
Once you have identified your fear and why you are afraid, it’s time to start working on ways to overcome your fears and beliefs.
Ways to Overcome your fear of success.
* Celebrate your daily successes. I used to keep a monthly journal and I would write down all the great things that happened to me in the past month. I found that if I waited longer than a month, I would forget small, but important, victories. By documenting your success you will start to realize that you are experiencing success often and nothing bad is happening as result!
* Find a support system to help you manage your success. Find people to cheer you on. People who will remind you of your successes. But also find people who can help you manage your success. One of my coaching clients hired me when a publisher accepted her book proposal. She knew she would need help staying on track with deadlines and was able to manage her fear of deadlines, by hiring someone (me!) to help her create processes that would enable her to enjoy her success and limit her stress.
* Remember you are in charge. The best thing about working for yourself is that you are in charge. I carefully manage my success by remembering what’s important to me. I accept opportunities if they fit into my purpose in life (to help other artists and crafters succeed in business and maintain balance in their lives) and if they work in my schedule. Right now, I don’t feel I can embrace success in licensing because my daughter is young and I don’t have the time to meet tight deadlines. I do have time to accept success with my ecourses though. Take some time to figure out, honestly, the success you can accept in your life and then welcome it with open arms.
I hope this article helps you take a look at your business and it’s perceived limits in a different light. If you have any tips for overcoming fear of success, please leave them in the comments below. If you are interested in learning more about my coaching services, please feel free to email me for a free proposal.
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Interesting article…time to sit down and examine my fears!
WOW, I never looked at it that way! Something to think about, thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the article feature. I appreciate it and hope it helps other artists and crafters ovecome their fears and allow themselves to be a success!
more success = more of a real business = more taxes to deal with…
that’s my issue, being a hobby is better…
Ouch. Some of those points hit home. Great post.
The best thing about facing your fears is that once you face them, they no longer exist. It’s like dropping off your baggage and not having to pick it up again. Sweet!
I’ve been thinking about this a lot myself lately. Fear of failure and fear of success are quite different things, but present in many of the same ways. I’m afraid I have both! Time to face it, huh? Great article. Thanks.
And I thought it was just ADHD?
‘I accept opportunities if they fit into my purpose in life…’
I think my biggest fear is of feeling overwhelmed, of having to give up my cherished and scarce moments of freedom to meet potential demand (I have a day job). There is also a vague feeling of vulnerability every time I show my work and (inevitably) myself. It’s really helpful to see that I am not the only ‘strange’ creature in the creative world. Thank you.
I figured out I have no fear of failure, because I have failed on a spectacular level. I know I can come back from failure. I have never succeeded (well, in my mind, anyway) so I have no idea what it’s like. Your article has given me a feast for thought. Thank you.
So many women seem to struggle with this and this was a great article :O) I love the idea of writing down all those little successes daily, that sounds like a really positive and inspiring thing to do, especially when things get tough. Thank you so much
Very nice article! I agree with Caro, that so many women struggle with their own success. In fact, I see that with some men on the art circuit. With artists, I feel there is a self-fulfilled prophecy with the label “starving artist”–and oh do I hear that one all the time…to which I say, “I have plenty, there’s meat on my bones!” Be positive in your thoughts and deeds, and celebrate all the little breakthroughs.
I’m not afraid of success, she is afraid and eludes me!!! LOL
Yes! I admit it! I am afraid of success. I think that’s why I keep all these great articles in a folder and don’t follow through on what they tell me to do.
This is me completely i talk myself out of doing things because im afraid im not good enough and i “forget” to reply to emails from important people and companies incase i let them down.
Maybe i should just tell my brain to shut up lol.