Here’s the psychology behind why highly successful, driven, and ambitious entrepreneurs hold themselves back from achieving true success…
I’ve worked with 6-, 7-, and 8-figure entrepreneurs across industries (AI, CPG, tech, creator economy, etc.). But despite how much they’d achieved, they still felt like they weren’t living up to their potential.
I call this Achievement Ambivalence and it’s when you simultaneously want to succeed, yet hold yourself back from it.
There’s a simply psychological reason why:
Achieving success—however you define it—represents crossing a threshold.
If you’ve never achieved major success, then the only version of yourself and your life you recognize is the “pre-success” version.
So achieving major success represents crossing a threshold into the unknown, which is terrifying.
One question I ask my coaching clients is:
“What does success represent to you?”
The most common responses I hear include:
- “Success means I’ll be alone because I’ll outgrow my friends and loved ones.”
- “Success means I’ll lose my ambition.”
- “Success means I’ll lose my competitive advantage because I won’t be the gritty underdog everyone underestimates.”
- “Success means I’ll have too much niche fame and influence, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle that level of responsibility. What if it corrupts me?”
If success to you means you’ll somehow be worse off, then of course you don’t want to achieve it—who would?
Who wants to be alone? To lose their ambition? To lose their edge? To become corrupted by power and influence?
So of course you pull back right when you’re on the edge of victory.
- You procrastinate, overcomplicate, or get analysis paralysis
- You do all the things except the things you know you need to do
- You let FOMO, Shiny Object Syndrome, or Imposter Syndrome kick in
Anything you can do to avoid crossing that threshold into true success.
Fear of success is a huge reason so many highly ambitious (and accomplished) entrepreneurs self-sabotage their own success.
Yet you became an entrepreneur to make a difference—to scale your income and impact and live a life of freedom and fulfillment.
But as long as your afraid of embracing your authenticity, stepping into your power, and striving to reach your full potential—you’ll never get there.
Read Next: The Poor Kid Who Was Afraid of Success for a deep dive into how your identity can hold you back from doing your best work.
