Don't Be Afraid - Of Yourself!
by William Savage
(Lakeside, Montana USA)
Many people fail because their afraid of what progress and sustained individual success may bring.
Many people fail because they're afraid to succeed.
- They imagine scenarios accompanying success that they feel they may not be able to handle, and this, in turn, dampens their progress and their sustained individual success.
I've experienced this feeling myself, the fear that as I succeed, it will just become more difficult to advance further and failure will eventually happen.
- With success, the expectations of others grows, and unless you have a pretty solid level of self esteem, these greater expectations can be frightening indeed.
The truth about progress and sustained individual success is, that as you succeed, you learn.
- And with success there usually comes motivation to learn more.
- You should even learn from occasional failures, and they will happen.
Your fear is likely based on your thinking that while you are succeeding, you haven't changed...that you haven't learned anything new.
- That simply isn't true.
There is definitely something to the saying that "Success Breeds Success".
- Apparently success breeds greater degrees of proficiency and sustained individual success
- There are, of course, limits...as is often pointed out in "The Peter Principle."
People in management at one time or another hear about, or at worst experience, what is known as "The Peter Principle".
The Peter Principle states that as you succeed and are promoted up the ladder you will eventually reach your "level of incompetence".
- It suggests that you will eventually reach a plateau where you now either barely meet expectations or are beginning to fail.
- Some reach this level quickly, some late in their careers, and a few fortunate ones never seem to reach it at all.
I don't claim to know why some do better than others but it seems to be a combination of high confidence and self esteem, a good dose of intellectual curiosity, hard work, and just maybe a little luck.
- But...as the saying goes, "You make your own luck."
The Peter Principle applies to you, but if you work at what you are trying to accomplish, you may never reach that dreaded "level of incompetence".
- Be aware of it but don't fear it.
- Have a plan.
- And, keep in mind that as you succeed, you will learn more and what you learn will lead to your future of progress and sustained individual success.
