Simone Biles had previously become the greatest gymnast in the world, and with that title comes a lot of pressure.  She is experiencing a common fear that many successful people feel.  Now that they’re the best, how do they stay there and what do they do when they are no longer the best? Simone Biles admitted that the pressure to stay on top was too much for her and she withdrew from a situation that was too stress provoking to allow her to succeed.

This is defined as a fear of success and/or failure.  The mind begins to ask, “Once I succeed, will I feel like a failure if I can’t maintain my goal?”  Whether your goal is a promotion, weight loss, athletic competition or any other worthy aspiration, the fear of success often drives you to sabotage yourself because staying at your goal seems like a lot of work. The sabotage can take many forms and it is a natural part of the human consciousness

The saboteur can be insidious. It may or may not consciously tell you not to reach for your goal out of fear.  But you may be picturing the weight loss and the eating changes that it will require which generates fear of change in the nervous system. Check yourself when you think of your fear of failure or success to see what picture it generates in your mind.  This image is often the driver that decides whether you approach or avoid your goal.

If your mental picture of accomplishment generates a happy feeling, then you are likely to approach it.  But if that image has a competing image of the result of failure, then these two images are competing.  Which image wins depends upon a number of factors and they involve how well you have met and mastered your inner saboteur.

Listen to what the saboteur is telling you.  If you try to suppress it, you will push it into the subconscious where it will run your life; it will constantly be talking to you but you won’t even realize it is running the show.  When you listen to what it has to say, you can kindly allay the fears the saboteur feels and if necessary “feel the fear and do it anyway.”  Decide which part of you you want to be running your life. Is there another part of you that is more powerful than the saboteur? Perhaps your empowered self?

Getting to know yourself, strengths and weaknesses is key to any success.  The more you know who you are, the better you will be able to set boundaries with yourself and activate you inner empowered self.  It doesn’t have to fight the saboteur, just smile at its worried self, assure it that you are in charge and go for it!

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