Fear of Success and Fear of the Unknown - Overcome Procrastination Step 4

You are reading the fourth article in our six article series that will help you overcome procrastination. Enjoy it please.

Assessment: Familiar Settling vs. Frightening Success.

Rank yourself 1 to 10 on the following statements:

“I avoid tracking my money. A lot.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 That’s not me That’s so me!

“I’m a dreamer. I day-dream about success, but I always picture it in the future.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 That’s not me That’s so me!

“If I feel there’s money coming in, and I’m making progress, I start spending loosely.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 That’s not me That’s so me!

“When I see a successful person, I think about how complicated it must be to maintain that success . . . or I assume they’re a jerk.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 That’s not me That’s so me!

“I make impulsive money decisions . . . giving to charities, buying people gifts, etc.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 That’s not me That’s so me!

                    **Average Score:  _______**

You can overcome procrastination a lot of ways. Our goal is to help you find the most direct route by getting a clear picture of where you are right now – your starting point.

If you scored high on this assessment, your starting point might be fear.

Fear is powerful stuff... until it isn’t.

We’re going to watch a theatrical performance.

  • One role will be played by your unconscious (that part of your brain that operates on auto-pilot, and that you can only access through meditation / hypnosis / visualization).
  • The other role will be played by your desires and goals and dreams (which you have chosen consciously – I hope!)

UNCONSC: You’re alive, aren’t you? DESIRES: Well sure, but – UNCONSC: I’m just sayin'... have I screwed up so bad along the way? DESIRES: Well no, it’s just that – UNCONSC: Everything that you and I have experienced so far... we survived, right? DESIRES: Of course, but there’s so mu – UNCONSC: So why are you asking me to try something new? Can you guarantee me that we’re going to survive this new thing? DESIRES: Guarantee? Uh... I mean, there’s not – UNCONSC: I didn’t think so.

When we laugh at having fear of the unknown success that awaits you, we’re laughing at human nature!

Here we are... silly, silly humans... wired in such a way that we believe that whatever is familiar to us must be safer than what’s unfamiliar, because we’ve already survived the familiar stuff.

But that’s only half the story!

If the theatrical performance ended there, and our hero – our desire, our goal – was beaten down by our unconscious need for familiarity, and the curtains came closing in, that would be a tragedy!

Do you want your story to be a tragedy? Hell no!

Here’s the other half:

The most powerful brain ever evolved or intelligently designed (you decide) is inside your head.

  • Does it want you to survive? Yes.
  • Does it also have the most incredible capacity for adaptation ever witnessed on earth? Yes.

We now bring you Act Two of today’s performance:

DESIRE: I know what I want, and I’m going after it. UNCONSC: But I – DESIRE: Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn what you think. UNCONSC: I just – DESIRE: *Do you want to keep talking, or would you rather help me kick some ass? *UNCONSC: *Well if you’d – *DESIRE: *Good. I knew you’d see it my way. You ready? *UNCONSC: *Let’s rock this mutha. *DESIRE: (aside) Always wanted a side-kick... this is going to be awesome.

So how do you get your desire so amped up and ready to roll, that it just bowls right over that old silly survival fear? The answer is rooted in your values... we’ll talk more about that soon.

Article 4 Re-cap.

When your desire is clear, and you’ve made a strong decision to go for your goals, the same part of your brain that used to create a fear of unknown success becomes your strongest ally – it adapts immediately!

Comment with your top 5 values (sample values might be honesty, freedom, courage, fun, love, being of service, etc). Let us know what your life would look like if you lived as an unstoppable commitment to these values!

Skipping ahead, or trying to find the “hack” to solve your concerns, is a classic form of sabotage. It never works.

View all the other parts of this six part procrastination series:

Part 1: Why do we procastrinate.

Part 2: Low self esteem and lack of confidence.

Part 3: Perfectionism.

Part 4: Fear of success and of the unknown - you are here now.

Part 5: Self sabotage.

Part 6: Get your results and take action!