Fear of Success
We talk a lot about fear of failure but not so much about fear of success which might be described as the better we do the better we have to do. There are incessant demands to live up to those standards and subconsciously we may hold ourselves back because we may think we are not ready for that. If your identity and self-worth is too attached on the outcome you will be too inhibited. Alan Hansen was one of the most successful footballer of his generation and then went on to be a very successful television pundit of the sport at which he was so successful. Hansen surprisingly quit at the height of his fame and has recently said
‘When I played I didn’t like pundits. When I was a pundit I didn’t like the other pundits because I was scared they might be better than me. Honestly, I thought they were all better than me. It was my insecurity. On the pitch I had tremendous belief in my own ability. I never thought I wasn’t good enough to play for Liverpool when the game started but before the match, before a programme… I never found out why. It is the way it is.’
Alan Hansen’s comments are suggestive that fear of success and fear of failure linked to self-worth ended the television career of a superb football communicator. Invite someone to take a closer look at Christ who had alot to say about facing fear and his church.