I have had a lot of discussions around this issue lately.

It seems that most of us have two great fears.  The first is the fear of failure.  The second is the fear of success.

By most people’s standards, I have led a life of success.  I am educated, can jitterbug well at the company picnic (good on my feet), am persuasive, not stupid, passionate about ideas, and have translated my passion into president of publicly traded company at 34, and made enough money to make most people happy.  AND YET I AM PLAGUED EVERY DAY BY FEAR.

First, I am afraid to fail.   But worse, I sometimes behave as if I am afraid to succeed.  That may be the value of a partner for me.   IN a partnership, my goals are committed to someone else besides me.   Whatever, I always do better with a partner, and I have found that making success worth more to my partner (51%+) than it is to me works well for me also.

How have you dealt with the fear of failure or the fear of success?