Fear of success

There's a fear of failure and there's a fear of success. Pick one.

Jodie Cook put it beautifully in Forbes.

"Fear of success is the concern that once we achieve something, there may be associated suffering. When you sabotage your efforts for seemingly no reason, when you keep yourself playing small no matter how much you dream big, and you can’t seem to shake those old ways and thought patterns, this fear could be holding you back."

I have had this fear. Yes, I've said it. I know I've got it in me and, quite surprisingly, I'm completely optimistic about growing Skysoclear. What I'm aware of is the self-sabotage, playing small and holding myself back, just as Jodie describes.

I see creating a business being more about persistence, than about initially finding product/market fit. Keeping going, validating often and building slowly, but surely. This is a 10+ year story and in 10 years time, I'll be nearly 50, so the job of the first few years is survival - taking on work, getting work done and subtly creating the framework to scale. Most businesses don't get past the 12 month mark.

There are methods to base decision making on, but dare I say - a lot is based on gut feel, previous experience, and the sense that making progress can also mean making big decisions.

As Steph said this morning, quoting Susan Jeffers:

“Feel the fear and do it anyway!”